NDP e-vote issues a concern for Halifax

Some are wondering about the e-vote planned for Halifax this fall, after people at the NDP leadership convention in Toronto and at home had trouble casting their ballot this weekend.

Scytl, the Spanish company running the vote, has also been hired to provide e-voting for the October municipal election.

It underbid a Dartmouth company, Intelivote Systems, which took care of the election in 2008.

Dartmouth New Democrat Brian Warshick estimates that he made 80 attempts to vote on the first ballot on Saturday.

And it didn't end there.

"It took me an hour and 18 minutes on ballot number four," said Warshick.

Intellivote owner Dean Smith said a number of issues surround the NDP's problems, including tying voting to the party's main website and not using telephone voting as well as the electronic option.

He also said there should have been a quick fix.

"The concept of the denial of service attack, which is what they're suggesting here, is something that should be easily thwarted by putting in the right technology at the front end," Smith said.

He called it a key component of any e-vote, one his firm has used many times, including at six leadership conventions and 34 Ontario municipal elections.

He worries the integrity of all e-voting companies will now be questioned.

There will be a thorough review of the weekend vote and, if necessary, another company will be hired to manage the municipal election, said Mayor Peter Kelly.