Request for hand-counted ballots

A local representative of the Council of Canadians asked city council to eliminate electronic vote counting, and return to hand-counted ballots for the November civic election.

“Federal and provincial ballots are still hand-counted, in front of scrutineers,” said David Hagel to council July 14. He noted that Salmon Arm municipal ballots are counted only by computer, and if there is a need for a recount, the votes are fed back into the same machine.

“Nobody ever checks them by hand.”

Hagel said there is a growing trend of returning to hand-counting for elections. He pointed out the ballots have instructions printed on them that say the oval has to be filled in for the machine to recognize the vote, and he doesn’t know for certain if the voting machine reads the ballot correctly if the oval is marked in a different way.

Mayor Marty Bootsma said if the intention of the voter was unclear, the machine would kick the ballot back out and the judge would examine it.

City administrative officer Carl Bannister said if a ballot is returned from the machine, the voter has an opportunity to go back and fill out another ballot.

“I’m pretty confident that the system works the way it is,” said Coun. Kevin Flynn. He asked if the bylaw allows hand-counting in the event of a close vote.

Bannister said historically the bylaw allowed hand-counting in a close vote but it was removed by the province.

Bootsma added it is solely up to the chief electoral officer to have a recount.

“My understanding of the community charter is that ballots cannot be viewed,” said Hagel.

Bannister said ballots can be viewed with a judicial recount.

Chief electoral officer Monica Dalziel explained in pre-council correspondence with Hagel that ballot boxes are sealed as required by the Local Government Act and are only opened in the event of a judicial recount.

She said in the event a recount occurs, the only people present are a judge, the chief electoral officer, and the candidates.