Towns seek answers after voting snafu
Municipalities in Ottawa Valley, across Ontario forced to extend election into 2nd day
Municipalities across Ontario are demanding to know more about what caused a major delay in internet voting on election day, and how the company providing the service will prevent such a breakdown from happening again.
Polls remained open until 8 p.m. Tuesday in five communities in the Ottawa Valley after the company experienced "technical delays" on Oct. 22.
Renfrew, Pembroke, Petawawa and the townships of Laurentian Valley and Whitewater Region collectively made an emergency decision to extend the vote an extra day, as did two dozen other communities across Ontario including Sudbury, Owen Sound, Kawartha Lakes and Huntsville.
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The municipalities hired Canadian company Dominion Voting to provide internet and telephone voting. The City of Ottawa also hired the company to provide its voting tabulators and counting software.
On Monday evening, Dominion Voting blamed a third-party service provider in Toronto for limiting the bandwidth during the peak period when votes were rolling in, causing delays.
We regret that Ontario municipal customers and their voters experienced a serious slowdown in our Internet Voting service during today's election <a href="https://twitter.com/6pm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@6PM</a>. The issue was resolved w/in 90 mins. We are working w affected localities to provide additional details for media/voters. 1/2
—@dominionvotingVoters experienced slow traffic to the IVS due to unauthorized action by a colocation provider supporting network connectivity (server hosting), which should have supported limitless traffic but instead limited traffic for 90mins until resolution. No security issues involved. 2/2
—@dominionvoting'Groundhog Day' for at least 29 communities
Officials in the affected communities expressed disappointment.
"People are still fearful of [voting online]," said Dean Sauriol, returning officer in the Township of Laurentian Valley. "You get a situation like we had now, it really puts a black mark on it."
In Pembroke, 75 per cent of voters tend to cast their ballots online or by phone, while the other 25 per cent cast a paper ballot at the town's lone polling station at the local Legion, according to returning officer and chief administrative officer Terry LaPierre.
The glitch, over which the town had no control, was frustrating enough, LaPierre said. Having to do it all over again Tuesday just added to the frustration.
"I felt like I'd woken up to Groundhog Day," he said. "Here we go again, doing the exact same things we did yesterday for another day."
Seeking reassurance
Once the election is settled, LaPierre said Pembroke will begin asking questions of Dominion Voting and demanding the company solve the problem by the next round of municipal contests in 2022.
LaPierre said Pembroke's not alone: on a conference call, officials from communities across Ontario, from Collingwood to Sudbury to Kingston, shared his concerns.
The company is offering those concerned municipalities reassurance.
"We'll do a full-company debrief on the problems that occurred, and how to ensure that Ontario voters never experience this problem in future," said Dominion Voting spokesperson Kay Stimson.