THUNDER BAY - An anomaly in the City of Thunder Bay’s online voting system resulted in more than two dozen voters potentially casting a vote in the incorrect ward, the city revealed Friday.
Advance polling opened in the city on Wednesday and saw a strong turnout, but according to Krista Power, city clerk and returning officer, a procedural irregularity was identified in the online system in the first hours of voting.
“We did have a confined anomaly, what we refer to as a procedural irregularity, where 27 voters in poll 301 in the McKellar Ward received an internet ballot in early hours of voting for poll 201, which is the Red River Ward,” she said at a press conference Friday.
TBnewswatch had asked the city about reports of online voting irregularities on Thursday.
Power said she became aware of the issue after receiving a phone call from a voter regarding the confusion. The issue, identified as a program error in the system, was corrected to ensure all internet ballots were assigned to the correct ward.
Internet voting was disrupted briefly on the afternoon of Oct. 5 while the issue was corrected. The city said there was no breach of security with the system and no other irregularities were identified in any other races.
According to Power, the percentage of potential votes cast in the wrong ward is small, representing approximately 0.2 per cent of the more than 13,000 ballots cast.
However, there is no way of knowing if voters cast a ballot in the incorrect ward and if so, no one is permitted to vote again.
“What we know is we know when and how individuals cast their ballot,” Power said. “The secrecy of the ballot is paramount and protected by the [Municipal] Elections Act... I don’t know how they voted, so whether they voted for ward councillor, I don’t know. Once your ballot is in the box, the secrecy of your ballot is protected, and as the clerk I cannot go into the ballot box, be it in person or virtual, and take it out.”
In the event that the races in the Red River or McKellar Ward are close and a winner is determined by 27 votes or fewer, the city said a by-election would need to be called.
“The Municipal Elections Act would require if the margin is 27 or less, I would need to report that and go through a process under the [Act] to request a by-election,” Power said. “It may be immaterial. The McKellar Ward or Red River Ward may win by 1,000 votes, and then this is of little consequence.”
Power added that turnout at the advance polls has been very strong and she does not want voters to see the issue with internet voting as a deterrent from becoming involved in the municipal election.
“We want people to participate in the municipal election, we want them to be assured that we are here today to tell you about this because it is important for transparency,” she said. “We don’t anticipate there to be further challenges. If there were to be further challenges, we would report them immediately.”
