Hamilton politicians are undecided about whether to allow alternate voting options when the 2022 municipal election rolls around.
The city clerk is recommending an evaluation of internet voting and voting by mail, but councillors have stopped short of asking for such a report.
Instead, they’ve referred the issue to the governance committee for further discussion.
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Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger doesn’t understand the hesitation, saying expanding the opportunities for people to vote is “all positive.”
Eisenberger also argues that we just watched mail-in-voting “flourish” during the U.S. election, prompting Ward 14 Coun. Terry Whitehead to respond that “I had to choke on that last comment.”
Whitehead says he believes most Americans feel their election was “tainted.”
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Some $120,000 has been set been aside to implement mail-in and internet voting in Hamilton, if those options were eventually approved by council.
City Clerk Andrea Holland describes those options as “the most promising alternatives” to the status-quo, in-person voting and the use of tabulators.
The Ontario government introduced a bill in October 2019, that would prevent municipalities from using ranked ballots in the next civic election.