Canadian Government Executive - Volume 22 - Issue 7

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Governing Digitally Jeffrey Roy
As team Trudeau would tell it, this past
summer saw spirited Canadians debat-
ing the wisdom and perils of alterna-
tive voting models around barbecues
and campfire. Presuming, however, that enthusi-
asm was more tempered, it has largely fallen to a
Parliamentary Committee to consult and devise a
path to electoral reform before the next election.
Yet democratic reform is also broader than
electoral reform, a point underscored by Min-
ister Maryam Moncef’s mandate letter. Indeed,
many Canadians may have spent their summer
not deliberating about election models but rather
preparing applications to the Senate, a process
available online! Such an option brings to mind
another Liberal pledge, namely consideration of
whether or not voting over the Internet (or e-vot-
ing) has a future.
The experience at the municipal level is re-
vealing of the complexities at play. In 2014, more
than one hundred Ontario locales embraced e-
voting (some abandoning traditional channels
entirely). Research has since revealed a mod-
est (though not universal) bump in voting rates
where e-voting was used—though many factors
shaped turnout.
The City of Toronto saw a large increase in 2014
voting due to an unusually colorful Mayoral race.
Beforehand, the Municipality had rejected plans
to offer e-voting due to cost and security concerns,
the latter an especially common objection. In its
own 2013 examination of e-voting, for example,
Elections Ontario opted for caution (having since
recommended new e-polling technologies for the
next provincial election to improve the efficiency
of traditional channels).
Though caution is warranted, there are at least
three key reasons why e-voting must be pursued
sooner rather than later: younger voters, those
with disabilities, and the wider implications for
social, political and economic development in an
increasingly digital age.
First, with respect to young people growing up
in a world of seamless connectivity intertwined
with all aspects of their lives, not having e-voting
can only seem bizarre. While not all young voters
would cast their ballot online, a growing propor-
tion will be disinclined to make the effort if the
online option is not there. Such is one reason why
the Speaker of the House of Commons in the UK
has called for e-voting nationally by the end of the
decade.
Secondly, although one concern about e-voting
is that privacy may be compromised (as voting
patterns are recorded, stored, and potentially
misappropriated), there is an equally compelling
argument that e-voting augments privacy—espe-
cially for those with disabilities. Elections Can-
ada has observed that: “By voting electronically
and therefore unassisted, these electors are af-
forded a greater degree of anonymity when cast-
ing a ballot. Enabling secrecy for these groups
enhances the equality of the vote.”
One Ontario group, Accessibility for Ontarians
with Disabilities Act (AODA), reacted critically to
the 2013 Elections Ontario report (calling it a “slap
in the face”). Their critique is bolstered by the ex-
periences of New South Wales in Australia, a state
which has successfully deployed e-voting chan-
nels for precisely this constituency. From 2011 to
2015, voting online increased more than five hun-
dred percent (reaching nearly five percent of all
votes cast), with one in ten voters characterizing
e-voting as essential to their participation.
Thirdly, and most broadly, as a country’s econ-
omy becomes ever-more digital, civic infrastruc-
ture cannot be left behind. Countries that are e-
voting leaders (such as Estonia) are also ahead in
wider digital and mobile transformations across
private banking and public services alike. By con-
trast, Canada remains constrained by a fragment-
ed identity management system that has stunted
service delivery reform, payment systems inno-
vation, and e-health alike.
While e-voting is no panacea, it could help to
spur a long overdue conversation amongst all
governments as to how best to collectively create
and maintain a resilient, cloud-based federated
architecture for not only voting but all forms of
interactions administratively and politically. In
the absence of such investment, the digital divide
will only grow more pronounced, as will the gap
between the public and private sectors.
The centrality of email breaches in US politics
and the federal government’s Phoenix payroll
debacle vividly highlight the risks at play: 2019
may well prove unattainable federally. Nonethe-
less, such risks necessitate political leadership
and technological prowess: an endlessly cautious
and incremental path merely engrains division
and mediocrity while relegating politics to the
periphery of the digital citizen.
Jeffrey Roy is professor in the School of
Public Administration at Dalhousie
University .
Why E-Voting Matters
Though caution is
warranted, there
are at least three
key reasons why
e-voting must be
pursued sooner
rather than later:
younger voters,
those with dis-
abilities, and the
wider implications
for social, political
and economic
development in
an increasingly
digital age.
September 2016 // Canadian Government Executive / 21