Wellington North will be using a voter mail in system for the upcoming Ward 3 byelection. Council also approved the timeline for the byelection at the council meeting on Aug 11.
The nomination period opened on Aug. 11 and will continue until Oct. 2. Voters may mail back their ballots by Nov. 2 or hand deliver them to the central ballot box at the municipal office in Kenilworth up to and including the day of the election on Nov. 16.
Township staff cited voter fatigue, accessibility issues, and inclement weather as some of the reasons to move ahead with voting by mail rather than the traditional paper ballot.
“I’m a traditionalist, I sort of like the traditional paper ballot, but I would be interested to see, I guess for this byelection, whether or not it does increase voter turn out and maybe we could make some changes in 2018,” said councillor Sherry Burke.
The estimated cost for the vote by mail system will be approximately $9.89 per voter, but the township may see that cost reduced if the mail-in system is used for the 2018 municipal election. This is compared to the cost of $4.48 per voter if the traditional ballot method was chosen.
“I think we see it as an opportunity is test it as a pilot within this byelection and see how it works. A lot of our neighbours spoke highly of the process so we are kind of hoping to test it ourselves,” said CAO Michael Givens.
During the 2014 municipal election only 415 votes were cast of the eligible 1,333 voters in Ward 3.
By press time, one application from Jens Dam was received by staff.
