At its May 13 council meeting, Whitehorse’s city council struck down a proposed plan that would have allowed online voting in the next municipal elections.
The bylaw setting out the regulations for the 2024 municipal elections, set for this fall, was up for third reading at the meeting. At the outset of discussion, Coun. Ted Laking moved that the portions of the bylaw allowing for online voting be removed by city administrators before the matter could return to council in June.
Council's decision tacks against recommendations from Whitehorse city administration and the Yukon’s chief electoral officer.
Laking noted concerns the city had heard from members of the public and also scholarly research on security flaws with online voting that he reviewed.
“It's stated that a secure and verifiable internet voting remains one of the most challenging open problems in cybersecurity. Despite numerous potential social benefits, the technological risks are many and the democratic stakes therefore remain high,” Laking said, quoting from a briefing note provided to a federal committee by Alexander Essex, a software engineering and security specialist at Western University’s electrical and computer engineering department.
Laking told the other councillors of major concerns reported including vote selling and coerced voting made more likely due to the unsupervised nature of the online vote.
“As we all know, the importance of a secret ballot, the importance of going behind the curtain or the box, and not being able to be influenced, is a real thing,” Laking said.
“Other articles that I've read raised concerns that perhaps domestic violence situations could be exacerbated through this. If you have a partner that is aware of how you're voting or influencing your vote, that is a concern. “
He also mentioned vulnerabilities to phishing and denial of service attacks as well as the Yukon’s recent loss of internet service.
Laking suggested options such as more voting days or mobile polling stations that could meet the accessibility goals online voting sets out to without increasing risks.
Coun. Kirk Cameron described the importance of election day as a community event and learning experience for young Whitehorse residents. He suggested that a future council could vote this in when security is completely assured but at this time, he said he supports the safe choice: going without online voting.
Stressing accessibility concerns, Coun. Michelle Friesen said the city must ensure polling stations have ramps, wide doorways and other considerations for those with mobility challenges if it doesn’t proceed with online voting.
Coun. Mellisa Murray suggested other solutions to boosting voter turnout such as pre-registration of voters and changes to voting days.
“It sounds like there's a lot of ways that we can assist with voter turnout and not just this one item in regards to online voting,” she said.
Mayor Laura Cabott drew on information from Maxwell Harvey, the territory’s chief electoral officer, regarding the use of internet voting across much of Canada and asked if there are any unique security threats facing the Yukon.
City administration replied that there are no unique problems they are aware of. City manager Jeff O’Farrell noted the use of internet voting by the Northwest Territories and Nova Scotia for some elections and Quebec’s plans to adopt it. He also noted that Harvey finds the same potential for fraud with online as with mail-in voting.
O’Farrell added that a number of the accessibility solutions discussed by delegates and councillors are already in place and that online voting had still been shown to increase participation in elections.
“The materials we've provided or we've been provided with by Elections Yukon stress that the primary benefit of internet voting is accessibility. The materials indicate that there's a slight increase in voter participation, usually to the tune of about 3.5 per cent. But yeah, the emphasis or the primary benefit of internet voting is indeed accessibility,” he said.
Cabott said she doesn’t support removing the provision. She stated that she doesn’t see the threats faced by the Yukon as unique from elsewhere in the country where online voting is used and wants to follow the recommendation of the chief electoral officer.
The motion to strike the internet voting provision passed with six councillors in favour.
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com