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Penticton  

Voting machines a worry

A concerned Penticton resident has sent a letter of complaint to the Ministry of Community, Sport, and Cultural Development over the use of electronic/mechanical counting machines in the city's civic elections.

Kevin Proteau believes that with the use of counting machines and the inability of candidate-appointed scrutineers to observe the vote count, his rights to have his votes counted are no longer guaranteed. 

“These voting machines are not infallible, or tamper-proof," he said. "At the University of Princeton a professor demonstrated how, in 30 seconds, a code sent to a voting machine could alter its program to assign votes from one candidate to another and this can be done remotely. I'm not saying it has happened here, but are we willing to put risk to our democracy at the possibility?"

Proteau further states, “In the case of counting machines, the mechanization is dependent on software which can be manipulated with memory cards or chips. Unless all scrutineers can inspect the implementation of the software, to have the software scrutinized by computer programmers, or to test the machine for any wireless activity or memory card tampering prior to, during, or immediately after voting day, there is no guarantee that all citizens’ votes will be properly counted.”

Proteau and Vicki Lightfoot already appeared before Penticton council on Oct. 6 to voice their concerns over not being able to scrutineer the vote count.

During the presentation, Proteau asked council to either switch to a manual count or to have a manual count done within hours of the electronic/mechanical count to ensure the accuracy of the count. 

Lightfoot explained how the Ministry’s own Candidate Organizers Guide explained how scrutineers were to observe the vote count. However, she went on to explain that no such opportunity exists with the counting done mechanically.

In addition to the official complaint, Proteau has filed a Freedom of Information request to learn when and how the decision was made to switch from a manual count to an electronic count of ballots.

Such a decision, Proteau believes, should have involved the public. Essentially the public’s ability to check and cross-check the vote count has been removed.

Proteau will next hold a press conference on the matter on the steps of Penticton City Hall at 5 p.m., Monday, Oct. 20, an hour before the start of the council meeting. Everyone is invited, including candidates, he said. 

City communications officer Simone Blais said there is a report going forward to council on Monday that outlines all the security elements in place. This, ( electronic counting machines), has been in place for several years and they are used in several communities, she said.



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