Voting Services Modernization/Polling Place Process Enhancement

Over the past few decades, the Polling Place process in Canadian General Elections has become increasingly complex. In response, an increased number of Election Officers have been hired to manage a manual process highly prescribed by legislation (20% more for the 42nd General Election versus the 41st). Finding, recruiting, training and managing an effective workforce of more than 250,000 people, many of whom are asked to perform specific functions only one day in a four-year Electoral cycle, is one of the biggest challenges faced by EC Returning Officers (RO) in conducting an Electoral Event.

After reviewing feedback from Canadians on their experience at the polls in 2015, and consultations and survey results from Electors, Election Officers, political parties, parliamentarians and other stakeholders, EC concluded that the area of voting operations most in need of improvement is the time-consuming, error prone, manual record-keeping required at the polls, particularly Advance Polls.

One solution that has shown to have positive results in other jurisdictions is the introduction of electronic devices – laptops or tablets (known as “E-Poll Devices”) that automate paperwork and other administrative tasks performed by Election Officers in a single Polling Place, therefore replacing the cumbersome paper Poll Books, voter lists, and forms currently used. These E-Poll Devices will be networked within each individual polling place and will not depend on internet connectivity. Elections Canada has no plans to introduce electronic casting or counting of votes. Polling places will continue to use paper ballots, marked and counted by hand.

The experience of Electoral agencies in Canada and abroad has shown that the use of e-poll devices f to automate paperwork and other administrative tasks performed by Election Officers in the Polling Place has provided faster service to Electors, better working conditions for Election Officers, more accuracy and auditability, and improved process integrity. Pairing technology with improvements to Polling Place procedures provides even more benefits.

Recommendations before Parliament, if enacted, will result in amending the Canada Elections Act in a manner that will permit further technology-enabled business process improvements related to record keeping. For example, if these recommended legislative changes are approved, E-Poll Devices sharing an electronic List of Electors could enable Electors to vote at any Service Point within a Polling Place. This would be an improvement to the status quo where each Elector must vote at the specific table (Polling Station) to which they are assigned, sometimes standing in line at their table while Election Officers at other tables are not busy.

EC requires Contractor-managed services and a Contractor-delivered and supported solution to assist EC in its objective of enhancing the voter experience by improving administrative processes used by Election Officers at Advance and Ordinary Polls in future Electoral Events. This must be accomplished while adhering to stringent legislative, security, privacy and operational specifications in order that the integrity of the Election process and the reliability of the administrative machinery continues to be maintained, thus ensuring an accessible Electoral framework that Canadians continue to trust and use, thereby contributing to the overall health of Canadian democracy.

E-Poll Devices will improve accuracy, compliance and auditability of important Polling Place transactions. These transactions include voter lookup, verification, identification and required forms (e.g., Oaths), Polling Division and Electoral District assignment by street address, voter history update and other services such as name change, address change and redirecting voters to their correct Polling Place.

E-Poll Devices replace paper-based records with electronic records. This automates the current process that has Election Officers searching for an Elector on the paper list and striking the Elector’s name off with a ruler and pencil. Paper ballots, counted by hand, remain an essential part of the process. While introducing E-Poll Devices does not include the introduction of electronic voting or electronic counting of votes, the E-Poll Solution will be used to record the result of the existing hand count of ballots by EOs.

Many Canadian provinces (i.e. British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island) are adopting or considering E-Poll Devices. Such technology will be the norm for almost all Canadians within the next few electoral cycles.