New Brunswick Internet voting

New Brunswick had a Commission on Electoral Reform that took online submissions starting at the end of 2016, held meetings in January 2017, and submitted its report at the beginning of March 2017.

The Commission recommended against Internet voting.

Therefore, the commission makes the following recommendations:

• The government not proceed with electronic voting at this time, due to concerns related to security, confidentiality and privacy.

above from A pathway to an inclusive democracy (PDF) – Goal 3: E-voting – pages 20-21

La Commission fait donc les recommandations suivantes :

• Que le gouvernement n’aille pas de l’avant avec le vote électronique pour le moment, en raison des préoccupations relatives à la sécurité, à la confidentialité et au respect de la vie privée.

En voie vers une démocratie inclusive (PDF) – Troisième but : le vote électronique/par Internet – de la page 20 à la page 21

I submitted a 16-page briefing to the Commission.

Previously:
January 1, 2017  New Brunswick Electoral Reform Commission meeting dates
November 27, 2016  Brief submitted to New Brunswick Commission on Electoral Reform – November 2016
November 20, 2016  New Brunswick electoral reform consultation including Internet voting

New Brunswick Electoral Reform Commission meeting dates

It looks like the New Brunswick Commission on Electoral Reform will meet with the public in January 2017 only, as they work to producing a report for March 1, 2017.  Announced meeting dates are:

• Wednesday, Jan. 4
• Friday, Jan. 6
• Monday, Jan. 9 (from 10am to noon)
• Friday, Jan. 13
• Monday, Jan. 16
• Friday, Jan. 20
• Monday, Jan. 23
• Friday, Jan. 27

i.e. Monday and Friday each week in January, with the exception of the first week where the Monday meeting is moved to January 4.  Times and locations have not yet been announced. Unless there’s a media advisory otherwise, the meeting location is Council Chamber, Legislative Assembly (706 Queen Street, Fredericton).

UPDATE 2017-01-07: The main website is NOT listed under Legislative Assembly / Special Committees.  You have to find it under Consultations – http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/corporate/public_consultations/ElectoralReform.html

The only channel for meeting updates appears to be Media Advisories.  Note that the media advisories expire from the web page quickly (basically once the event has passed the advisory is gone).  I am unable to find any meeting agendas or list of stakeholders being invited.

The January 9, 2017 meeting will be from 10am to noon according to an advisory.

ENDUPDATE

UPDATE 2017-01-05: Time and location for upcoming meetings Jan 6-16 will be 9:30am to 4pm, in Council Chamber, Legislative Assembly (706 Queen Street, Fredericton).  ENDUPDATE

UPDATE 2017-01-03: January 4, 2017 meeting has been postponed.  ENDUPDATE

I have submitted my briefing about online voting to the commission. The deadline was November 30, 2016 but in a CBC News report they say you can still submit in January.

The commission invited the public to share thoughts and concerns on its website up until Nov. 30, but Passaris said that deadline is one that is “movable.”

“As long as the commission will be holding its public sessions, we would like the public to continue to send in their comments,” he said.

You can submit by email to Consultations.ECO-BCE@gnb.ca

Previously:
November 20, 2016  New Brunswick electoral reform consultation including Internet voting

Brief submitted to New Brunswick Commission on Electoral Reform – November 2016

I have submitted my brief to the commission, it’s a 16-page document with 31 references cited.

You can find the PDF at

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1dTIjUvkfsDbU1pTS1CSXJHTzBuUVpjMXhHS3JUcEp4ZHdB

where you can download by clicking on the down arrow in the upper right of the screen.

Or you can see the embedded version below. NOTE: Due to an quirk of Google, the page numbering in the embedded doc below is off by one. The table of contents has the right numbers, but the bottom right numbering is off by one; page 2 should be page 1.

UPDATE 2017-01-28: The link to the Kitchener report in my document is incorrect, it should be

Gosse, R. (2012, December 10). FCS-12-191 – Alternate Voting – Internet Voting. Retrieved from City of Kitchener – Laserfiche WebLink: https://lf.kitchener.ca/WebLinkExt/DocView.aspx?id=1235356&dbid=0

Previously:
November 20, 2016 New Brunswick electoral reform consultation including Internet voting
October 6, 2016 Brief submitted to [Federal] Special Committee on Electoral Reform – October 2016

New Brunswick electoral reform consultation including Internet voting

You can submit comments or submit your name to be an expert witness e.g. by email to Consultations.ECO-BCE@gnb.ca
The deadline is November 30, 2016.

The New Brunswick Commission on Electoral Reform consultation page states

The commission has been given the following mandates:

• Assess commitments made by the provincial government in 2014 to contribute to making a more effective Legislature by:
  – eliminating barriers to entering politics for underrepresented groups; and
  – investigating means to improve participation in democracy, such as preferential ballots and online voting.
• Assess other electoral reform matters that have been raised recently, namely:
  – the voting age;
  – political contribution rules; and
  – political spending rules.

To its credit (and unlike the Federal electoral reform consultation) the NB government has issued a discussion paper, which includes two pages covering Internet voting reasonably well.

The discussion paper is called “Strengthening New Brunswick’s Democracy” and is available from the Government of New Brunswick website (GNB.ca) at
http://www.gnb.ca/legis/business/currentsession/58/58-2/LegDoc/Eng/58-2July/SNBD.pdf
The Internet voting section is pages 18-19.

For the French version of the discussion paper, see
Vote par Internet – de la page 20 à la page 21 dans « Renforcer la démocratie au Nouveau-Brunswick » (PDF)

The discussion paper is also available in print bilingual and in PDFs in both official languages, here are the ISBNs
ISBN 978-1- 4605-1033-9 (Print Bilingual)
ISBN 978-1- 4605-1034-6 (PDF English)
ISBN 978-1- 4605-1035-3 (PDF French)

The Commissioners have been announced in a November 9, 2016 press release

The individuals are Carolyn MacKay, Bev Harrison, Gaétane Johnson, Jason Alcorn and Constantine Passaris.

None of the commissioners has a technical (computer science) background.

According to a July 2016 news release

It is expected that hearings will take place in the fall [2016] with a report due by early 2017. The plan is to allow for any changes to be implemented in advance of the 2018 general election.

However the November 9, 2016 press release makes no mention of hearings, and says just

The public has been encouraged to participate in the process by reading the discussion paper Strengthening New Brunswick’s Democracy and submitting comments. The information received will be compiled and analyzed by the commission. Recommendations will be submitted to the clerk of the Executive Council by March 1, 2017.

This posting adapted and expanded from original on legacy blog http://papervotecanada.blogspot.ca/2016/07/new-brunswick-launches-voting.html