Electronic and Internet voting are a danger to democracy. This blog is dedicated to preserving the existing Canadian paper-based, hand-counted voting system.
Tag: Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador
April 21, 2021 – All-Party Committee Established to Modernize the Elections Act
May 26, 2021 – Members of All-Party Committee to Modernize the Elections Act Confirmed
EngageNL – Legislative Review of the Elections Act, 1991 (consultation closed January 31, 2022)
Committee members would do well to read the Internet Voting Privacy and Security Risks report from OIPC Newfoundland.
The Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly has had a Select Committee on Democratic Reform.
UPDATE 2022-05-23: The 49th General Assembly dissolved prior to the [2020] Committee’s deadline to report. The Committee is now disbanded. It is replaced to some extent by the 2021 All-Party Committee to Modernize the Elections Act. For more information see Newfoundland 2021 All-Party Committee to Modernize the Elections Act. END UPDATE
Continue reading “Newfoundland Select Committee on Democratic Reform”
The Newfoundland and Labrador Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) has released a very clear report that explains the unique characteristics of the secret ballot and elections, and examines the risks that would be introduced by implementing Internet voting.
Internet Voting – Privacy and Security Risks (PDF)
It also asks a very fundamental question: what problem is Internet voting trying to solve?
In reviewing reports and public documentation from Canadian jurisdictions where internet voting has been implemented it appears that there has been little to no concerted effort on the part of governments, prior to implementing internet voting, to 1) identify the problem to be addressed and 2) understand what has caused the problem.
In the case of internet voting, it is not even clear that there is a problem [that is being solved]. If the problem can be framed as lack of participation in the democratic process, this is a much broader problem than the method of voting.
The report was authored by Sean Murray, Director of Research and Quality Assurance.
The report is particularly timely as Newfoundland and Labrador has established a Select Committee on Democratic Reform that is to review voting systems and methods.
For more on OIPC Newfoundland and Labrador, see:
Paper Vote Canada 2 