Oct 15, 2009 - 12:13 PM

By Jennifer Stone

CLARINGTON -- Voters may have the option of traditional or Internet voting, and election signs may only be placed on Regional roads, if council follows two staff recommendations on how to run the 2010 municipal election.

Council held a special meeting Tuesday to look into the matter, but made no decisions, tabling both issues -- how people should vote and where signs may be placed -- until its next meeting, Oct. 26.

One of the staff recommendations included not allowing election signs on local roads, only allowing them on regional roads or private property. The idea was tabled, but not before some councillors spoke out against it, some saying it was inequitable, if only due to geography.

"It's one thing to say this road will have signs on it, and this road will have signs on it, but this road leads to Hwy. 401 and this road leads to nowhere," Councillor Mary Novak said.

Candidates would also be required to pay the Municipality a $260 deposit, which they would get back if all their signs were removed within three days of the election.

Staff also recommended moving from the vote-by-mail system used by Clarington since 2000, opting for a hybrid approach, allowing voters to choose from two voting options: go to polling stations located at numerous locations throughout the municipality on election day or use a two-step encrypted Internet-voting system which could be accessed for 10 days, ending election day.

"Internet voting provides a vote anytime, anywhere solution," said staff's report to council. "It may be used by all elector groups, including seniors, visually impaired, deaf or hard of hearing, homeless, those away from home, and (the) mobility impaired. Electors are provided an opportunity to vote at their convenience, in the comfort of their home or anywhere they can connect to the Internet."

Accessibility is an even bigger issue than it has been before, and Internet voting provides greater access for those who wish to cast a ballot, Deputy Clerk Anne Greentree told council.

But not everyone is in favour of such a system.

While Internet voting is superior to vote-by-mail, which is flawed for a number of reasons including the potential for fraud, the online version could also fall prey to chicanery, said Marion Manders, a Kendal resident and longtime federal, provincial and municipal election worker, in a letter to council.

"Unsupervised voting can undermine the integrity of any election and missing from (the Clerk's recommendations) is a simple return to the traditional system of voting - a system of supervised voting; that is, a paper ballot cast at a number of local polling stations under the direction of deputy returning officers and poll clerks, where scrutineers can observe the process and act on behalf of their respective candidates," Ms. Manders' letter said.

Likewise, Jean-Michel Komarnicki, the only member of the public to speak to council on the matter, said he preferred Internet balloting over vote-by-mail, but called traditional voting in person "the safest, most secure . . . most democratic way of voting. Everything else is less. But, vote-by-mail is lesser than the Internet."

Moving to Internet voting isn't going to improve voter turnout, Mr. Komarnicki contended, saying people either vote or they don't.

"I suspect the choice will be if they'll go online, or to a poll, not whether they'll vote or not," he said.