Rocky Mountain House town council has voted unanimously to second a motion from the City of St. Albert asking the province to continue allowing electronic ballot counting in elections.
The motion is in direct opposition to the Alberta government’s recently proposed Bill 20, which prohibits electronic voting machines in municipal elections.
The resolution is scheduled to come up for a vote in the next Alberta Municipalities (AbMunis) conference in the fall.
“It’s a simple majority,” says Rocky Mountain House Councillor, Len Phillips. “If 50.1 per cent of municipalities agree then it gets added to the Alberta Municipalities advocating team.”
Should the vote pass, it would then be up to the province to take the next action- possibly by amending the Bill, says Phillips.
Phillips adds, when a council seconds a motion, it doesn’t necessarily mean it always supports the idea behind the motion, only that it would like to see it come up for a vote.
“The Town of Rocky Mountain House can support it or it can not support it,” explains Phillips. “Just because we’re seconding it doesn’t mean we have to vote in favour of it.”
Councillor Tina Hutchinson mentioned during the meeting that despite the wording in the Bill, Municipal Affairs minister Ric McIver has said publicly he has not heard any opposition to electronic voting from municipalities.
Electronic ballot counting has been used for years in Rocky Mountain House, says Phillips, and that he too has yet to hear concerns about the machines from anyone, either in town or from outside.
Phillips adds, electronic ballot counting is beneficial to elections as counting happens a lot quicker, is more cost-effective and the human error component is taken out.
Now that the motion has been moved, municipal councils in communities of all sizes will have the opportunity to vote on the resolution this fall, says Phillips.
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