Electronic voting = election fraud?

I understand that low voting numbers in condo elections are a serious problem in many corporations.

There are a number of reasons for this including:

•	the initial marketing that sells condos as a "pay one monthly cheque and have no worries" lifestyle
•	huge numbers of absentee owners
•	condos being considered short-term housing
•	owners being turned off by election fraud
•	the owners not understanding the meeting rules
•	a lack of participative democracy in condo affairs
•	and the owners being treated rudely at the few meetings they do attend

The argument for electronic voting is that with huge numbers of absentee owners, some not even in the country, it will make it easier to obtain the necessary quorums to hold owner meetings and to allow absentee owners to vote in larger numbers.

This raises a major concern with residential condo corporations. They are no longer being designed to be homes for resident-owners but as investments for small-time landlords and speculators. If condos went back to their roots, being housing for owner-residents, then there would be no need for electronic voting.

Bill 106 is very vague on how electronic voting will work. It suggests voting by e-mail or telephone but it does not say who would receive the e-mails and telephone calls or texts, and how would these votes be verified by neutral scrutineers?

There has been far too many incidents of election fraud by property managers to allow them to be the recipients of electronic voting results.

Then there is the need to give all candidates access to the owners telephone numbers and e-mail addresses so they too can canvas the voters.

Elections Canada has concerns
But don't expect to cast your ballot from your laptop just yet. Elections Canada (in 2015) still has concerns about online vote verification, as well as the possibility of hacking or manipulation of an online voting system. The agency also fears voters might be coerced to vote online against their will.

"Until the security and secrecy issues are resolved, it's not something we're going to be pursuing," Elections Canada spokesman John Enright told CBC News Network's Power & Politics.


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