Elections Ontario · Elections Ontario 51 Rolark Drive Toronto, Ontario M1R 3B1 1.888.668.8683 TTY: 1.888.292.2312 [email protected]

Elections Ontario

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock By-election Report

Elections Ontario51 Rolark DriveToronto, OntarioM1R 3B11.888.668.8683 TTY: [email protected]

Office of the Chief Electoral Officer

of Ontario

Bureau du directeur général des élections de l’Ontario

June 1, 2009

The Honourable Steve PetersSpeaker of the Legislative AssemblyRoom 180, Main Legislative BuildingQueen’s ParkToronto, OntarioM7A 1A2

Dear Mr. Speaker:

It is with great pleasure that I submit my Report on the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election held on March 5, 2009.

This report describes the conduct of the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election and highlights some of the administrative and electoral process improvements that were introduced in the by-election.

Additionally, this report describes the accessible voting technology pilot project that was conducted as part of the by-election and provides recommendations on the use of accessible voting technology in future general elections.

The successful administration of the by-election could not have been achieved without the dedication and commitment of the Returning Officer, Mr. Jerry Ford, the 30 returning office personnel, and the 680 election officials who worked on election day and in the advance polls. I also extend my thanks to the registered political parties and nine candidates for their participation in the by-election.

Respectfully submitted,

Greg EssensaChief Electoral Officer

TaBLe of ConTenTs

Introduction 1

Section One: Preparing for the By-Election 4

Section Two: Communications: Public Education, Outreach and Marketing 16

Section Three: Conduct of the Event 26

Section Four: Accessible Voting Technology Pilot Project 31

Section Five: Election Finances 47

By-election Report Conclusion 52

Summary of Recommendations 53

List of Tables and Figures 54

Appendix A: By-Election Statistics 55

Appendix B: Returning Officer’s Report on Accessibility 58

Appendix C: Description of Election Positions 61

Appendix D: Website Activity 64

Appendix E: Poll-by-Poll Results 66

Appendix F: Chief Electoral Officer’s Letter to Political Parties 74

Appendix G: Chief Electoral Officer’s Directive for the Pilot Project 75

Appendix H: Advance Poll Exit Survey Results 88

Appendix I: Recount Provisions for Vote-Counting Equipment 89

1IntroductIon

InTRoduCTIon

The following report describes the conduct of the March 5, 2009 by-election held in the Electoral District of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock.

The successful delivery of an election depends on the careful planning, integration and execution of many separate but related activities. This report describes how these activities came together in the by-election, and is divided into five sections:

Section One discusses the preparations for the delivery of the by-electionSection Two provides an explanation of the public education, outreach and marketing initiatives undertaken for the by-electionSection Three describes the conduct of the by-electionSection Four provides a detailed discussion of the advance poll accessible voting technology pilot projectSection Five outlines Election Finance requirements and activities related to the by-election

A major focus of this report is the accessible voting technology pilot project that was conducted as part of the by-election. The pilot project placed accessible voting technology in all advance voting locations, providing electors with disabilities the opportunity to vote privately and independently.

The report describes the findings of the pilot project and sets out recommendations for the use of accessible voting technology in future general elections.

Eighteen per cent of the people who voted in the by-election cast their ballots at the advance poll using the new technology, including more than 2,800 people in the returning office alone. Nine electors were able to vote independently using the accessibility equipment. Nearly 90 per cent of the advance poll exit survey respondents indicated that they found the advance poll voting process easy.

The fundamental conclusion arising out of the pilot project is that employing accessible voting technology in general elections is a realistic and reasonable accommodation method to enable thousands of Ontarians to easily cast their ballot. While at this point, it is not feasible to put the technology in every single voting location in Ontario, there is the opportunity to provide the technology during the advance vote of a general election. For the first general election, the Chief Electoral Officer’s intention would be to place the technology in returning offices and their satellite offices, approximately 140 locations.

There is a cost to using accessible voting technology, depending on the number of advance vote locations and whether the equipment is leased or purchased. However, there may be the opportunity to offset the costs of the equipment and support by partnering with other electoral agencies.

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2 IntroductIon

Accessible voting technology cannot be implemented in a general election without amendments to the Election Act. This report recommends specific amendments to:

Provide the Chief Electoral Officer the flexibility to use alternative voting equipment and methods during general elections rather than just in by-electionsProvide for additional time (at least six days) between the close of nominations and the first day of advance polls, to provide adequate time to prepare the ballots and test the equipmentClarify the recount provisions by prescribing provisions similar to those contained in the Municipal Elections Act, 1996

Elections Ontario continually strives to improve the electoral process. In addition to the accessible voting technology pilot project, this report highlights several new initiatives that were undertaken in this by-election, including:

Enhanced public education, outreach and marketing campaignRe-designed householder and Notice of Registration cardA new, on-line reference tool for staff called “eoPedia”A new training program employing “hands-on” learningCustomized returning office supplies and materials

An enhanced public education and outreach campaign was used to educate and inform electors of specific election events. The householder, a comprehensive information brochure delivered to each residential address, was expanded with new content describing the accessible voting technology pilot project, advertising the need for election workers and publicizing advance vote locations and dates.

The Notice of Registration card, which is mailed to every elector to provide them with information on when and where to vote, was re-designed to better highlight key information and improve readability. Elections Ontario engaged a focus group of Returning Officers to review and assist in re-designing the card.

An on-line, searchable election manual for returning office staff called “eoPedia” was developed and used for the first time. This reference tool allowed on-line navigation and easy searching through daily checklists, training manuals and forms.

A new approach to training was introduced where participants role-played a variety of voting place scenarios. This “hands-on” training was modeled after the process followed in a typical voting place and reinforced key voting place responsibilities in a very realistic way.

As part of its by-election readiness planning, Elections Ontario develops a generic shipping list for the necessary supplies and materials to conduct a by-election, known as an “Office in a Box.” For this by-election, the concept was taken one step further when the Returning Officer was given the opportunity to review and customize supplies and materials to the needs of the electoral district. This allowed the returning office to be fully stocked and organized earlier than in the past.

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3IntroductIon

Turning to other aspects of the by-election, Section One of this report addresses three major issues that negatively affected the quality of the list of electors in this by-election:

The inconsistent practices between Elections Ontario and Elections Canada The poor quality of rural addressingThe high number of unconfirmed electors

The discussion underlines the problems faced when electoral agencies that share the same geographic area do not follow consistent practices. If Elections Ontario and Elections Canada used the same policies in regard to the creation of polling divisions and mapping of electors, the ability to share information would be greatly enhanced. This is one area where there is an opportunity to achieve efficiencies through cooperation between provincial and federal agencies and Returning Officers.

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock is one of several electoral districts in the province where the quality of rural addresses is poor. The problem arises because people provide different versions of their address to different service providers. In rural areas, an elector may use the rural route version of the address when completing their taxes, but use the 911 version of their address on their driver’s licence and use their Canada Post mailing address on other pieces of identification. This makes it very difficult to place an elector in a poll with any certainty.

The difficulties in matching Elections Ontario and Elections Canada data, and the poor quality of rural addressing in the electoral district, resulted in several hundred electors with “unconfirmed” addresses for electoral purposes. A special mail-out provided these electors with information on how to register and vote, but only after a considerable expenditure of time and resources by Elections Ontario, the Returning Officer and his staff.

The challenges faced in preparing the list of electors reinforce many of the points made by the Chief Electoral Officer in his February 4, 2009 submission to the Select Committee on Elections. In that report, he recommended the establishment of a single address authority for Ontario and more consistent practices among federal, provincial and municipal electoral agencies.

Looking forward, Elections Ontario will learn from the challenges and build on the successes of this by-election. Elections Ontario will continue to improve the delivery of the electoral process and ensure that electors and participants in the process are fully able to exercise their democratic electoral rights.

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4 PreParIng for the By-electIon

seCTIon one: PRePaRIng foR THe By-eLeCTIon

Preparing for a by-election presents a unique challenge. Because the date and location of the by-election are not known well in advance, Elections Ontario must maintain a constant state of election readiness so that it can be ready to conduct a by-election anywhere and at any time.

When the vacancy in the electoral district of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock was announced, Elections Ontario put its by-election readiness plan into action. Although the Election Act sets out a 29-day period for prescribed by-election activities, the goal was to complete as many preparatory activities as possible prior to the issue of the writ.

This section of the report describes the main activities conducted in preparation for the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election. It begins with a description of the Order for the by-election and includes a calendar of key dates and profile of the electoral district. It also includes a discussion of the pre-writ activities undertaken by the Returning Officer in relation to polling division boundaries, mapping and securing voting locations.

A description of the process for preparing the preliminary list of electors highlights the problems caused by the poor quality of rural addressing and inconsistent practices between Elections Ontario and Elections Canada. To improve the accuracy of the list of electors, Elections Ontario decided to use the list from the federal election that had occurred only four months earlier. Despite this initiative, there were several hundred electors whose addresses for voting purposes could not be confirmed. Through a focused outreach to these electors, Elections Ontario was able to provide the necessary information to ensure that they knew how to register, and when and where to vote.

This section also includes a description of the staffing and set-up of the returning office and polls, including an overview of the training program for election officials. New training tools, in the form of an on-line, searchable election manual and hands-on, scenario-based classroom learning were part of a comprehensive training program for election officials that will be further enhanced for use in future elections.

Finally, this section provides an overview of nominations and revisions to the list of electors – the final steps in preparation for election day.

5PreParIng for the By-electIon

order for the By-election

On January 12, 2009, Laurie Scott resigned as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the electoral district of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock. The Chief Electoral Officer was advised of the vacancy by means of a warrant from the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Under the provisions of the Legislative Assembly Act, the writ for a by-election must be issued within six months of the date that the Chief Electoral Officer received the Speaker’s warrant.

On February 4, 2009 the Lieutenant Governor in Council ordered that the writ of election be issued by the Chief Electoral Officer for the electoral district of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock. The writ ordered that the by-election be held on Thursday, March 5, 2009 and that nominations for the by-election close on February 19, 2009.

Calendar of events

The calendar of events for a by-election is prescribed by the Election Act and the Election Finances Act. The writ period begins on Day 29 when the election is announced and ends on Day 0 which is polling day. Prior to, during and after the writ period, there are other activities related to the electoral event. Table 1 shows the key dates in the by-election calendar.

Table 1: Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election calendar

day event dateDay 29 Writ Issued

Beginning of Campaign PeriodFebruary 4, 2009

Day 29 to Day 23 Blackout Period for Election Advertising February 4 to 10, 2009Day 26 Target Revision of the Preliminary List of Electors

StartsFebruary 7, 2009

Day 21 Nomination Period Starts February 12, 2009Day 20 Preliminary Spending Limits Announced February 13, 2009Day 19 Notice of Election published in the Ontario

GazetteFebruary 14, 2009

Day 18 Target Revision Ends February 15, 2009Day 16 Notice of Registration Cards Mailed February 17, 2009Day 14 Close of Nomination Period – 2:00 p.m. February 19, 2009Day 13 Logic & Accuracy Testing – Accessible Voting

TechnologyFebruary 20, 2009

Day 12 First Day of Returning Office Advance Poll February 21, 2009Day 9 First Day of Area Advance Poll February 24, 2009Day 7 Last Day of Returning Office and Area Advance

PollsFebruary 26, 2009

Day 1 to Day 0 Blackout Period for Election Advertising March 4 to 5, 2009Day 1 Revision Period Ends – 8:00 p.m. March 4, 2009Day 0 Polling Day March 5, 2009Day 0 + 2 Official Tabulation March 7, 2009Day 0 + 3 months End of Campaign Period June 5, 2009


electoral district Profile

The electoral district of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock is located in central eastern Ontario and covers an area of 10,482 km2. The electoral district is a mixed rural and urban area and contains the City of Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County and parts of Peterborough County and the Regional Municipality of Durham. This area also includes the towns of Lindsay, Buckhorn, Fenelon Falls and the townships of Cavan-Millbrook-North Monaghan, Galway-Cavendish and Harvey, North Kawartha and Brock.

Major industries are retail trade, manufacturing, tourism and some agriculture. The 2006 census shows an average family income of $74,249. Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock has the second largest percentage of seniors in the province, with residents over the age of 65 making up almost 19 per cent of its population.

Figure 1: Map of the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock electoral district


Returning officer

The Returning Officer for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock is Jerry Ford. Mr. Ford has been the federal Returning Officer for the electoral district since 2003 and took on the role of provincial Returning Officer in the 2007 general election.

The Returning Officer appoints an Election Clerk to provide assistance and to act in the place of the Returning Officer if the Returning Officer is unable to perform his or her duties. The Election Clerk for this electoral district is Elaine Murray. During the by-election, the Returning Officer had to take leave for one week at which time the Election Clerk acted as the Returning Officer in his absence.

Pre-Writ activities

Following the declaration of vacancy for the electoral district of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, and with an election date still pending, Elections Ontario immediately began working with the Returning Officer to prepare for the by-election.

By early January, the Returning Officer had hired his core returning office staff. In addition to the Returning Officer and Election Clerk, the core returning office staff team consisted of a Technical Support Officer, Revision Supervisor, Human Resources Officer/Recruitment Officer and Returning Office Revision Assistant. A brief summary of each of these position responsibilities is included in Appendix C.

On January 12 and 13, 2009, the Returning Officer and his staff came to Elections Ontario for training and a review of pre-writ activities. The training program highlighted new initiatives and program changes and reviewed key activities and tasks throughout the election calendar. At this time, the Returning Officer also reviewed and provided input to the proposed by-election budget, list of supplies and materials.

Beginning in early January 2009, the Returning Officer undertook the following pre-writ activities:Identified, secured and organized the returning officeConfirmed a target revision strategyEvaluated and confirmed polling day and area advance voting locations Confirmed polling divisions and maps

Returning office

The returning office was located in the Town and Country Centre, 55 Angeline Street North, Lindsay. The lease was secured on January 26, 2009, which allowed the Returning Officer time to fully stock, furnish and set up the location in advance of the writ. The returning office opened to the public on February 6, 2009.

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In order to be better prepared for potential by-elections after the 2007 general election, a generic shipping list was developed for the necessary supplies and materials to conduct a by-election. The shipping list, known as an “Office in a Box,” provided for the assembly of enough supplies for the largest electoral district in the province. This list was reviewed and refined by the Returning Officer so that it could be tailored to the needs of the electoral district. A sample of the major supplies delivered to the returning office is shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Major supplies delivered to returning office

Item description QuantityBallot boxes 500Voting screens 1250Poll kits 500Manuals and guides 2500Poll Record Book 500Posters 2100

Once an office address for the returning office was confirmed, Elections Ontario was able to immediately ship the supplies to the returning office. The delivery was completed on February 2, 2009, allowing the Returning Officer time to set up the returning office before opening to the public.

The returning office set-up included telecommunications components such as Centrex and analog voice lines and high speed Internet lines. The set-up also included the enhanced flexibility of laptop workstations and a secure wireless Local Area Network. This technology supported an integrated public call centre, data entry, and information sharing within the returning office. Installation support and any other needed assistance were provided through a helpdesk at Elections Ontario and telecommunications services were installed and supported by external suppliers.

The returning office was open from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., seven days a week. During this time, electors could confirm that their names were on the list of electors, find out how to have their names added if they were not on the list, and locate where to go to vote, or apply for a job as an election worker.

Voting Locations

Voting locations must be confirmed early in the election period for inclusion on the Notice of Registration cards for electors. In early January, the Returning Officer worked quickly to visit and confirm locations and to ensure accessibility and availability of each site. This task was made somewhat easier by the fact that most of the locations were the same as those used in the recent federal election.

Advance poll voting locations were chosen for ease of access. Specific requirements included:Barrier-free accessLocations throughout the electoral district to allow access within a reasonable distanceLocations serviced by public transportation in urban areas

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Polling day voting locations were located as close as possible to where electors lived and were accessible. The ‘Returning Officer’s Report on Accessibility’, contained in Appendix B of this report, provides more details on the accessibility of voting locations.

There were 93 voting locations and a total of 258 polls used for the 10 days of advance polls and on election day. Roughly 50 per cent of the voting locations used during the by-election were in community centres or schools.

Table 3: Voting location summary

Voting Location Type advance Poll Locations Polling day LocationsReturning Office 1 1Municipal Office 1 2Royal Canadian Legion 5 6Community Centre 2 35Lions Club 1 3Church 13School 10Nursing Home 16Senior Citizen Residence 1Fire Hall 1Post Office 1General Store 1Apartment Building 1Armoury 1Hospital 1Total 10 93

Table 4: Number of polls

number of Polls per Location

advance Poll Locations

Polling day Locations

Total number of Polls

1 10 30 402 21 423 21 634 9 365 2 106 6 36

7 2 148 1 89 1 9

258


Polling divisions

When the Returning Officer and his technical support staff came to Elections Ontario in early January, discussion took place on a strategy for ensuring the most up-to-date electoral data possible. Mr. Ford was also the federal Returning Officer for this electoral district and was confident that the effort put into revising the list for the federal election held four months earlier had resulted in the most current electoral data.

In order to maximize the use of Elections Canada data, Elections Ontario decided to incorporate Elections Canada polling divisions into the Permanent Register of Electors (PREO) database. This required more effort than was anticipated. While Elections Canada and Elections Ontario share the same electoral district boundaries, they do not share the same polling division boundaries. As a result, it took approximately two and a half weeks to incorporate the federal polling divisions into PREO and to create new maps based on the federal polling divisions. This work was completed in late January 2009.

Preliminary List of electors

Once the writ had been issued, work began on the preparation of the preliminary list of electors. The preliminary list of electors consists of every elector who is on the Permanent Register of Electors for Ontario (PREO) and who is at least 18 years of age, a Canadian citizen and a resident of the electoral district. PREO is a database composed of the names, addresses, birth dates and genders of more than 8.5 million electors residing in the province of Ontario. PREO is the foundation for many of the systems used to support an electoral event and to provide information to the public.

With the decision to use current Elections Canada data, the first step was to load the data into the PREO database. To achieve as close a match as possible with Elections Canada data, Elections Ontario undertook the following activities:

Edited and loaded the Elections Canada polling divisions for the electoral district Loaded pre- and post-federal event data into the Elector Management System (EMS) and merged the data into the PREO Removed 1,918 duplicate electors and 1,562 electors identified in the Canada Post National Change of Address databaseApplied 3,352 status updates, removing deceased electors and electors who moved out of the electoral district since the federal election

The challenges that resulted from Elections Canada and Elections Ontario using different polling division boundaries have already been noted. The process of trying to match Elections Canada and Elections Ontario electoral data highlighted two additional impediments to achieving a high quality list of electors. One is the different methodology used by Elections Ontario and Elections Canada to assign an elector to a polling division, and the other is the poor quality of rural addressing.

Elections Ontario’s method of assigning electors to a polling division is based on assigning electors to specific address points that are then assigned to a polling division. Elections Canada, on the other hand, assigns electors to a polling division by matching the elector to a segment of the road (poll key), not to specific address points. If the elector provides only a rural route version of their address, it is difficult in either case to accurately assign the elector to the proper polling division.

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There are benefits and drawbacks associated with either approach. The Elections Ontario approach maintains specific addresses and therefore requires additional initial effort to get addresses in the correct location but requires less ongoing effort to process changes to polling divisions. Polling division boundaries are redrawn and a geographic process assigns the addresses their new polling division.

The Elections Canada method maintains a generalization of the address, the road network or poll key. This requires less initial setup but requires additional effort to maintain. When a polling division is changed the poll key must be recreated to assign the poll key the correct polling divisions. Addresses must then be re-matched against the updated poll key. In addition to the poll key updates, any maps that accompany the poll key must have the new boundaries drawn.

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock is one of several electoral districts in the province where there are a significant number of unconfirmed addresses. The problem arises because people provide different versions of their address to different service providers. In rural areas in particular, an elector may use the rural route version of his or her address when completing their taxes, but use the 911 version on his or her driver’s licence and use their Canada Post mailing address on other pieces of identification. Elections Ontario requires a valid 911 or civic address in order to assign the elector to a polling division and therefore include the elector in the list of electors. Where the elector provides another address, such as a rural route, it remains as “unconfirmed” and it is not possible to place an elector in a poll with any certainty.

After the Elections Canada data was loaded, a group of approximately 5,650 electors in the electoral district were identified as residing at unconfirmed addresses, due to the different data matching criteria employed by Elections Canada and Elections Ontario.

An analysis was undertaken of these electors and a further 1,413 were eventually confirmed and updated.

The remaining 4,237 electors at unconfirmed addresses were analyzed further. The electors living in the polling divisions in the interior of the electoral district were identified with confidence as being in the correct electoral district. A further set of electors living in the polling divisions along the periphery of the electoral district were also identified with confidence as being in the correct electoral district based on geo-coding information from Elections Canada. As a result, 3,551 of these electors were included in the preliminary list of electors.

After this analysis there were still 686 electors at unconfirmed addresses living in the polling divisions along the periphery of the electoral district. Because Elections Ontario could not be 100 per cent certain that these electors resided in the electoral district, these electors were sent a letter asking them to contact the returning office so that they could obtain instructions on registration and voting.

Elections Canada also provided improved address information to Elections Ontario for approximately 3,000 electors based on January 2009 updates from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. There was insufficient time to update these electors through automated processes and as a result the information was provided directly to the Returning Officer to manually enter the data in the returning office.

Initially, the preliminary list of electors extract from PREO contained 89,792 electors. A further 948 duplicate electors were removed to obtain a preliminary list of electors number of 88,844 electors.


election officials staffing and Training

One of the Returning Officer’s main responsibilities is to recruit and train staff to work in voting locations during the advance vote and on polling day.

As shown in Table 5, a total of 680 election officials were hired for the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election. The duties of these election officials included:

Recruiting, appointing and training poll officialsProcessing voters, issuing ballots and performing other duties at voting locations.Processing revisions to the listProviding information to the publicSupervising voting locations

A summary of these position descriptions is shown in Appendix B.

Table 5: Number of election officials hired by position for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election

Position number of officialsRevision Supervisor 1Area Manager 10Advance Poll Area Manager 3Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) 248Advance Poll Deputy Returning Officer 14Advance Poll Tabulator Deputy Returning Officer

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Standby Deputy Returning Officer 21Poll Clerk 248Advance Poll Clerk 22Polling Day Revision Assistant 49Advance Poll Revision Assistant 10Supervising DRO 42Information Assistant 2Total number of officials 680

Training individuals to handle the long hours and high-pressure environment of an election is a challenge. The goal is to ensure that the participants acquire the knowledge and essential tools to perform their job within the limited time available for training. The election official training program must be accessible, flexible and easily understood by the participants while still uniformly conveying the critical duties of each position.

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The by-election provided an opportunity to test some new training approaches and tools to enhance the learning of participants. For most positions, classroom-based training was used to cover the key functions and common scenarios encountered by each position. This training was supplemented by more detailed resource and technical manuals tailored to each position.

A new initiative in this by-election was an on-line, searchable election manual called “eoPedia.” This reference tool was used by all returning office staff and allowed on-line navigation through daily checklists, chapters of the training manual, printing of documents and links, and searching through the content for topics of interest. Feedback from the returning office staff will enable Elections Ontario to tailor “eoPedia” to be an even more effective tool in future elections.

The introduction of vote tabulators and ballot marking devices for the advance poll provided an opportunity to introduce other new approaches to training. The training methodology for the Advance Poll Deputy Returning Officers consisted of a 1.5 hour, scenario-based classroom training held at the returning office. The training included hands-on components where participants role-played a variety of voting place scenarios.

By the end of the election period, the returning office had facilitated 201 hours of training, conducting one to three classes per day, within a 19-day period that ran from February 14, 2009 to March 4, 2009.

nomination of candidates

For a candidate’s name to be included on the ballot and the Notice to Voters for the electoral district, the candidate must first be officially nominated as required by the Election Act. To become officially nominated, the candidate must complete a nomination paper and the candidate or the candidate’s agent must submit it in person to the Returning Officer.

The period for submitting nominations for the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election commenced on Day 21 (February 12, 2009) and ended at 2:00 p.m. on Day 14 (February 19, 2009). The nine nominated candidates are shown in Table 6.

Table 6: Candidates in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock in the order in which they appeared on the ballot

Candidate Political Party affiliationBill Denby Freedom Party of OntarioLyn Edwards New Democratic Party of OntarioPaolo Fabrizio Ontario Libertarian PartyRick Johnson Ontario Liberal PartyJake Pothaar Family Coalition Party of OntarioMike Schreiner The Green Party of OntarioJason Taylor IndependentJohn Tory Progressive Conservative Party of OntarioJohn Turmel Independent

In the one day separating the end of the nomination period and the first day of advance polls, ballots were proofed, printed and shipped to the returning office and other advance poll locations.


Revisions

The preliminary list of electors is an extract from the Permanent Register of Electors (PREO) for each electoral district. Revision is the term used in the Election Act for updating the preliminary list of electors during the writ period.

Revisions to the list of electors include:

AdditionsCorrectionsProxy appointmentsTransfersDeletions

Revision data is compiled from information obtained by target revision, applications made by electors at the returning office or advance polls and applications for changes and additions on polling day.

Target Revision

The goal of target revision is to improve elector and address information in areas where there is high turnover of residents, such as high-density developments, areas of new development, educational institutions, and “special polls” composed of locations such as hospitals, retirement homes and nursing homes.

Given the currency of the information received from Elections Canada from the recent federal election, the decision was made to only target revise the 19 special polls and the one post-secondary institution located in the electoral district – Fleming College in Lindsay.

Special polls are located at long-term care facilities and places of permanent residence for seniors or electors with disabilities who may find it difficult to take the usual steps to have their elector records updated. Revising Agents are sent to visit these electors where they live. Each facility administrator is contacted to schedule a convenient time for Revising Agents to visit. For this by-election, these visits took place between February 7 and 15, 2009.

For the target revision at Fleming College, arrangements were made with the administrator to set up a registration desk on campus on February 11, 2009 between 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. to register eligible students who were not on the list of electors.

Returning office, advance Poll and Polling day Revisions

Revisions in the returning office and advance polls took place as follows:

In the returning office, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily, after the issuance of the writ up to 8:00 p.m. on March 4, 2009At all area advance polls, from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

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On polling day, revisions were handled as follows:

Deputy Returning Officers performed all revisions at locations where there was only one or two polls at a locationPolling Day Revision Assistants performed all additions on polling day at locations where there were three or more polls at the location

final elector Total

The initial number of electors on the preliminary list of electors was further revised following returning office revisions and revisions on polling day for a final elector total of 90,351.

Table 7: Number of electors in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock

day date electorsDay 29 – Writ of Election Issued February 4, 2009 88,844Day 1 – Close of Returning Office Revisions March 4, 2009 89,160Day 0 – Polling Day March 5, 2009 90,351

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16 communIcatIons: PuBlIc educatIon, outreach, marketIng

seCTIon TWo: CommunICaTIons: PuBLIC eduCaTIon, ouTReaCH and maRKeTIng

Elections Ontario is committed to ensuring the accessibility and integrity of the electoral process. This commitment is supported through programs designed to educate Ontarians about the electoral process and inform them of specific election events.

A comprehensive communications campaign was implemented for the by-election, incorporating broadcast, print and online advertising, production and distribution of printed materials throughout the electoral district, and the execution of a media relations campaign. Elections Ontario further communicated with electors through specific outreach programs.

This section describes in detail the public education, outreach and marketing initiatives undertaken for the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election.

17communIcatIons: PuBlIc educatIon, outreach, marketIng

Communications: Public education, outreach and marketing

As soon as the vacancy was declared for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, Elections Ontario staff began work on a communications and outreach strategy tailored to the electoral district.

A multi-pronged campaign was developed incorporating marketing (newspaper, radio and online advertising, posters and direct mail), public relations (outreach to groups representing persons with disabilities, homeless and youth/student communities) and media relations (press releases, media interviews and a media demonstration). The goal was to ensure that the electors living in the electoral district were aware of the election and understood how they could participate in the process.

A key partner in this strategy was the Returning Officer and his staff. The returning office public call centre fielded most of the public inquiries related to the by-election and played an important role in disseminating accurate, timely information to electors, candidates, media and other stakeholders. The Returning Officer was also actively engaged in defining and delivering the outreach strategy.

Elections Ontario also informed media, advertising departments, and third party advertisers of important provisions and regulations for the by-election, including filming in polls, advertising blackouts and rules for third party advertisers.

Print, online and Radio advertising

Elections Ontario research indicated that local media was consumed widely across the electoral district; therefore, to generate maximum awareness among the community, advertising and media relations campaign focused largely on local radio, television and newspapers. There was also limited advertising in The Toronto Star, a GTA-based daily that is distributed across the electoral district.

Print advertising was a key component to the overall public information campaign, with full-page and half-page ads appearing in all local print media for four weeks leading up to the election. The creative strategy for advertising built on the look established in the 2007 general election. Campaign messaging was rolled out in stages, mirroring the election schedule:

Stage 1: Election Workers Wanted/Get on the ListStage 2: Advance PollsStage 3: Get Ready to VoteStage 4: Today is Election Day

••••


Advertisements ran in the following print media:

Peterborough This Week (Issued twice weekly; Circulation: 47,288)Haliburton Echo (Issued weekly; Circulation 4,302)Minden Times (Issued weekly; Circulation 2,664)Millbrook Times (Issued weekly; Circulation 3,600)Brock Citizen (Issued weekly; Circulation 7,206)Kawartha Lakes This Week (Issued twice weekly; Circulation 30,009)The Toronto Star (Issued daily; Circulation 421,709)The Peterborough Examiner - Wednesday (Issued daily; Wednesday Circulation: 18,483)The Peterborough Examiner - Friday (Issued daily; Friday Circulation: 19,168)The Lindsay Post -Tuesday (Issued twice weekly; Tuesday Circulation 4,388)The Lindsay Post - Thursday (Issued twice weekly; Thursday Circulation 23,250)

Online ads were positioned on the websites of all local print media in the electoral district. The ads were linked to the by-election page of the Elections Ontario website, which enabled tracking of the website traffic generated through online advertising. In addition to posting ads that mirrored the four stages of print advertising, a notice was published on TheStar.com and Toronto.com.

Gross impressions from the online campaign totaled 435,968, and generated 729 click-throughs to the by-election site. Overall, the online campaign generated a click-through rate of 0.17 per cent, outperforming the industry average of 0.07 per cent.

Radio ads provided blanket coverage of the electoral district during the writ period with an increase in the frequency of the ads leading up to election day. Over the duration of the campaign (February 14 – March 5) the radio advertising yielded an estimated 951,006.4 impressions. The following radio stations were used:

Peterborough - CKWF FM, CKQM FM, CKPT FM Lindsay - CKLY FM Orillia - CICX FM Huntsville - CFBK FM Bracebridge/Gravenhurst - CFBG FM Haliburton - CKHA FM/CFZN FM Bancroft - CHMS FM

Marketing was supported by media relations, which also focused on local media. Media relations distributed a total of 13 releases to media outlets across Ontario via Canada NewsWire (CNW). Releases were followed up by calls to local media. Resulting coverage included a Radio-Canada television interview with the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer; two CHEX news pieces on the tabulator and ballot marking tool; three articles in The Lindsay Post; five articles in Kawartha Lakes This Week; and four radio interviews with the Chief Electoral Officer.

•••••••••••

•••••••


Householder

The householder was a comprehensive information brochure delivered to each residential address in the electoral district. The householder provided electors with an overview of the key information required to register, vote and work in the by-election.

Figure 2: Householder


The Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election householder was developed internally using the 2007 general election householder as a template. New content was added to the householder advertising the need for election workers, describing the accessible voting technology pilot project and incorporating an updated Notice of Registration (NRC) graphic.

Also new for the householder was the inclusion of all advance vote dates and locations. This approach ensured that if an elector did not receive a Notice of Registration card, they were informed and aware of the opportunity to vote at any advance vote location throughout the electoral district.

notice of Registration Cards

The receipt of a Notice of Registration card has become the unofficial starting point for electoral events for a large portion of the electorate. Information received from public focus groups indicates that this piece of mail is one of the most recognizable items received during an electoral event. Electors rely upon the Notice of Registration card not just to advise them of registration, but also for information on when and where to vote — including advance polls, and who to contact for answers to their questions.

The Notice of Registration card was re-designed to highlight key information, eliminate duplication of information and improve readability. In early January, Elections Ontario reviewed the re-designed card with a focus group of Returning Officers who responded favourably to the new design.

Information from the preliminary list of electors was used to generate the Notice of Registration cards that were mailed to registered electors in the electoral district on February 17, 2009. Each card showed the name and address of the registered elector, and the address, date and hours of operation of the advance poll and election day voting locations. An extensive media campaign advised electors who did not receive a Notice of Registration card by February 20 to contact the Returning Office to receive instructions on how to be added to the list of electors.

Figure 3: Notice of Registration card

1681477

Your electoral district / Votre circonscription électorale : Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock

If Undeliverable Return To: P.O. Box 20Lindsay, ONK9V 4R8

NOTICE OF REGISTRATION

AVIS D’ENREGISTREMENT

Election Day Jour de l’élection

You vote at: Vous voterez au :

Thursday, March 5, 2009 Le jeudi 5 mars 2009

Poll no. / Bureau de vote

Voting Hours Heures du scrutin9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. De 9 h à 21 h

Please take your ID and this card when you go to vote. Veuillez apporter vos pièces d’identité et cette carte quand vous irez voter.

1681477

WEST GUILFORD RECREATION CENTRE12340 Hwy 35, Minden

*9571957*723537

421 John Sample1234 Anywhere StreetAnywhere ON E0E 1O1


Website

The Elections Ontario website provided electors with another link to information, support and assistance during the by-election.

A by-election page was created to act as a central resource for all content related to the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election. The site included links to:

News releases and bulletinsNotice of election and key datesList of candidatesCandidates’ guide and calendar“Where do I vote?” (application)Advance poll informationLarge print and Duxbury Braille versions of householderProxy voting information and applicationsElection positions Live election night resultsGuidelines for third party advertisers

Website traffic and activity was monitored using Webtrends analytical software, providing a complete account of website traffic and activity. The by-election information posted on the website received more than 5,000 visits with 956 visits to “Am I on the list?” and 653 visits to “Where do I vote?” The election night results received 8,928 visits and had more than 75,000 views.

A complete summary of the website traffic and activity is provided in Appendix D.

media Relations

Elections Ontario’s media relations program provided the media with timely and accurate information about the by-election. Media releases were available in both English and French. The goal was to inform electors via the media of the electoral process and their options for registering and voting. The media relations program reminded electors of the identification requirements for registration and voting that were set out by the Chief Electoral Officer. The program also informed media, advertising departments, and third party advertisers of important provisions and regulations for the by-election, including filming in polls, advertising blackouts and rules for third party advertisers.

•••••••••••


Table 8: Schedule of media bulletins

date of release media BulletinFebruary 5 Writ issued for March 5 by-election in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-BrockFebruary 5 Advertising requirementsFebruary 6 Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock returning office open to the publicFebruary 9 Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock electors may apply to vote by proxyFebruary 13 New voting machines to assist voters with disabilities in the provincial by-

electionFebruary 17 Notice of Registration cards arrive this week for the Haliburton-Kawartha

Lakes-Brock by-electionFebruary 18 Returning office advance poll opens this SaturdayFebruary 19 Services for electors with special needsFebruary 20 Filming by media during the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-electionFebruary 23 Advance polls open until ThursdayMarch 2 First estimate of advance poll turnout for the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-

Brock by-electionMarch 3 Important reminders for media on election dayMarch 4 Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock electors can register to vote on

election day

Elections Ontario received 14 inquiries from media on the by-election. Most inquiries were regarding historical information, the riding profile, and the accessible voting technology pilot project.

Public Call Centre

The public call centre was located in the returning office. Call centre staff were recruited and hired as resource staff to handle a variety of duties within the returning office. As a result, call centre staff were able to respond to handle a broad range of inquiries related to the election.

The call centre was staffed on February 6, 2009 – the first day the returning office was open to the public. Staffing was increased at peak times, such as the days following the delivery of the householder and Notice of Registration cards. The most frequently asked questions were:

“Am I on the list?”“Where do I go to vote?”“Are you hiring?”

•••


outreach

Elections Ontario’s outreach program provides electors with the information they require to participate in the electoral process. An effective outreach program depends on an understanding of the unique character and population of each electoral district.

Using information from Statistics Canada, previous Elections Ontario outreach efforts and the Elections Canada target revision database, the profile of the electoral district of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock was updated. Information was collected regarding special needs groups within the district, including:

Electors with disabilitiesWomen’s sheltersHomeless sheltersPost-secondary studentsCanadian Forces Federal and provincial correctional institutions

electors with disabilities

One of Elections Ontario’s primary goals is to ensure that electors do not encounter barriers to voting.

In addition to the accessible voting technology pilot project in the advance polls, described in detail in Section Four of this report, Elections Ontario implemented a number of measures to remove barriers to the voting process.

Materials for the by-election were produced in a variety of alternative formats. The householder was available in Braille, audio, Duxbury Braille and VoicePrint. The Notice to Voters was also produced in Braille for each poll.

On election day, when accessible voting technology was not used, ballot templates with raised numbers, Braille, and cut-outs were available to assist electors who are blind or visually impaired.

A kit for organizations that serve electors with disabilities was sent to the returning office and to both provincial and regional disability groups. The kit contained information on the services available for electors with special needs including information on the vote tabulator and ballot marking devices that were going to be used in advance polls.

Women’s shelters

Electors who are temporarily living in shelters for abused women may have concerns regarding their personal safety if they were to go to a designated poll on election day. In addition, women in this situation may temporarily reside in an electoral district other than where they permanently live. If they are using the shelter as their place of residence, they often may not have the traditional identification necessary for proof of residence.

••••••


Given the security issues with women’s shelters, Elections Ontario communicates with shelters via the Ministry of Community and Social Services, which distributes material on Election Ontario’s behalf. The women’s shelter kit contains a covering letter, a copy of the “Certification of Identity and Residence” forms and instructions, information on voting by proxy and proxy forms, a list of advance poll locations as well as posters for the shelter.

Homeless shelters

Elections Ontario’s homeless outreach program informs electors without a permanent residence that they can still vote and provides them with the information necessary to register and vote.

Using information obtained from Elections Canada’s target revision database, one shelter was identified in the electoral district. The Returning Officer’s community liaison officer distributed a kit containing a letter to the administrator, a copy of the “Certification of Identity and Residence” form along with the necessary instructions and forms, a list of advance poll locations as well as posters that left space to list the voting location for the shelter.

Post-secondary students

As described in Section One of this report, a target revision was held on the campus of Fleming College in Lindsay on February 10 and 11, 2009.

As part of this outreach, the campus was given copies of two posters, one promoting campus registration and one with information for students about voting. A list of frequently asked questions for students was also distributed to the Returning Officer.

Canadian forces, federal and Provincial Correctional Institutions

For Canadian Forces personnel who are outside of the country or their electoral district, or for incarcerated individuals, proxies are the only option available to vote.

Under the Election Act, an elector may apply to vote by proxy and appoint another elector in the electoral district to vote on his or her behalf.

Once the by-election was called, Elections Ontario sent official notification of the by-election and a description of the electoral district boundaries to the following agencies:

Department of National Defence – Canadian ForcesForeign Affairs and International Trade CanadaMinistry of Community Safety & Correctional Services – provincial adult inmatesMinistry of Children & Youth Services – provincial youth inmatesCorrectional Service of Canada – federal inmates

•••••


The agencies were requested to forward an updated contact list of electors who would be eligible to vote in the electoral district so that Elections Ontario could assemble and ship individual proxy packages to each elector on the contact list. The packages included a proxy voting application, instructions, frequently asked questions and an electoral district map. As Table 9 shows, a total of 531 proxy packages were shipped.

Table 9: Proxy packages shipped to Canadian Forces, federal and provincial correctional institutions

agencies number of Proxy Packages shipped

Department of National Defence - Canadian Forces 190Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada 170Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services - provincial adult inmates

31

Ministry of Children and Youth Services - provincial youth inmates

76

Correctional Service of Canada - federal inmates 64Total 531

26 conduct of the event

seCTIon THRee: ConduCT of THe eVenT

All event efforts and preparations for the by-election culminated on March 5, 2009 with election day itself.

This section of the report describes the main election day activities, from the opening of the polls to the posting of results. It also provides a summary of post-election activities and reports, including the official tabulation, official results, voter turnout and by-election expenditures.

27conduct of the event

election day – Before Polls open

Well before the polls opened at 9:00 a.m., returning office staff and area managers were at work preparing for the day ahead and ensuring that all voting locations were fully staffed and operational.

The first of the returning office staff reported for duty at 6:00 a.m. to take calls in case any of the polling day staff were unable to work that day. By 7:45 a.m., all area managers had reported that they had begun their rounds and by 8:00 a.m., all of the Supervising Deputy Returning Officers reported that they were at their voting locations.

Twenty-seven stand-by polling staff reported for duty on election day – half reported to the returning office and the other half were deployed to various locations around the electoral district.

Out of 680 elections officials, only one polling day worker called in sick and one of the stand-bys was immediately dispatched to the voting location.

Before 9:00 a.m., all Area Managers and Supervising Deputy Returning Officers reported that all of staff was present and all locations open. There was a minor delay in setting up one location where the person who was supposed to unlock the doors to the voting location did not arrive until just before 9:00 a.m., but it did not affect the opening of the poll.

During the day, only one more poll official had to be replaced by a stand-by due to a family emergency.

election day - Polls open

Polls were open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Election day went very smoothly, with very few issues reported. Area Managers travelled to the assigned polling locations to oversee voting and handle any issues that arose.

election day - Polls Closed

All polls closed without incident at 9:00 p.m. At the close of polls, the Deputy Returning Officer and Poll Clerks, in the presence of any candidates or scrutineers in attendance, counted the votes and completed the Ballot Statement of the Poll.

Results Reporting

After the votes were counted and the Ballot Statement of the Poll was completed, Poll Clerks from each polling place telephoned results in to the returning office call centre. Call centre agents recorded the number of votes for each candidate and the results were sent to Elections Ontario for validation and posting to the Elections Ontario website.

At this time, the results of the advance polls were produced. As described in Section Four of this report, the returning office was designated as the location for the production of the advance poll results. The advance poll results were printed from the vote tabulators, in the presence of candidates or scrutineers in accordance with the Chief Electoral Officer’s prescribed procedure.


By 10:00 p.m., an hour after the voting locations closed, approximately 63 per cent of the results had been posted to the website. By 10:20 p.m., this number had increased to 90 per cent.

official Tabulation

A candidate may not officially be declared elected until the Returning Officer has completed the official tabulation. The Chief Electoral Officer has directed that the official tabulation must be held on the day following polling day in urban areas, and as soon as possible in all other electoral districts.

The official tabulation for the by-election was held in the returning office on March 7, 2009. The Returning Officer conducted the official tabulation by ensuring that all of the Ballot Statement of the Poll forms returned in the official document envelopes balanced and that these numbers matched the numbers reported to the returning office after the polls closed.

Once the official tabulation was completed and certified, the Returning Officer notified the Chief Electoral Officer of the results.

declaration of official Results

As prescribed by the Election Act, a recount must be applied for by the fourth day after the official tabulation. Since there was no application for a recount, the Returning Officer dated and signed the return on the back of the Writ of Election officially declaring the name of the candidate that had been duly elected by virtue of having received the largest number of votes. The Writ of Election was returned by registered mail to the Chief Electoral Officer.

The official results, including poll-by-poll results, for the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election are shown in Appendix E.

number of Valid Ballots Cast

A total of 35,541 people voted in this by-election. After excluding the rejected, unmarked and declined ballots, the total number of valid ballots cast was 35,423. The number and percentage of valid ballots for each candidate is shown in Table 10.

29conduct of the event

Table 10: Number of valid ballots cast

Candidate Political Party affiliation

Valid Ballots Cast Percentage of Valid Ballots

Bill Denby Freedom Party of Ontario

140 0.40%

Lyn Edwards New Democratic Party of Ontario

2,112 5.96%

Paolo Fabrizio Ontario Libertarian Party

72 0.20%

Rick Johnson Ontario Liberal Party 15,542 43.88%Jake Pothaar Family Coalition Party

of Ontario258 0.73%

Mike Schreiner The Green Party of Ontario

2,330 6.58%

Jason Taylor Independent 280 0.79%John Tory Progressive

Conservative Party of Ontario

14,595 41.20%

John Turmel Independent 94 0.27%Total 35,423 100.00%

Voter Turnout

Elections Ontario establishes voter turnout by calculating the ratio between the number of people who voted and the final number of electors on the list of electors.

With the number of people who voted totaling 35,541, and a final elector count of 90,351, the overall voter turnout rate for the by-election was 39.3 per cent. This is compared with a historical voter turnout of 59.2 per cent in the 2007 general election and 63.2 per cent in the 2003 general election.

By-election expenditures

As Table 11 shows, the total expenditure for the by-election was $586,229.84, composed of expenses for headquarters, field activity and the accessible voting technology pilot project.


Table 11: By-Election expenditures

Headquarter expenditures for 2009 By-election amountCommunications $ 44,766.75 Hardware and equipment $ 1,080.00 Services $ 11,291.43 Supplies $ 64,200.83 Distribution, transportation and postage $ 19,727.04 Total $ 141,066.05

field activity expenditures for 2009 By-election amountAdministration of returning office $ 96,771.02 Advance polls $ 24,660.56 Hardware and equipment $ 8,658.36 Notice of Registration cards $ 56,085.68 Polling day $ 137,082.90 Printing $ 9,973.80 Revision personnel $ 30,949.08 Supplies, distribution and services $ 3,109.57 Training and preliminary duties $ 36,898.62 Total $ 404,189.59

accessible Voting Technology Pilot Project amountTabulator rental and TDRO staff $ 0.00Ballot printing $ 864.00 Tabulator delivery $ 2,341.02 HQ staff – logic and accuracy testing $ 2,390.55 Security $ 3,499.50 Legal $ 17,063.75 Translation $ 14,815.38 Total $ 40,974.20

gRand ToTaL: $ 586,229.84

31accessIBle votIng technology PIlot Project

seCTIon fouR: aCCessIBLe VoTIng TeCHnoLogy PILoT PRojeCT

With Ontario’s current voting process, electors with certain disabilities may be denied the right to vote independently and in secret.

In June 2007, the Election Act was amended to allow the Chief Electoral Officer to pilot voting technology, including accessible technology, in a by-election.

The Chief Electoral Officer heard from many individuals and disability organizations about their very strong desire to see a change in the electoral process that would allow electors with disabilities to vote completely independently. In January 2009, he announced his intention to pilot accessible voting technology in all advance voting locations in the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election.

This section of the report describes the findings of the accessible voting technology pilot project and sets out recommendations for the use of this accessible voting technology in future general elections.

It begins by describing the legislative framework and the critical requirements set out by the Chief Electoral Officer for the conduct of the pilot project.

A detailed overview of the technology highlights the important accessibility features of the technology as well as the measures taken to ensure the integrity of the system. It also describes the consultations undertaken to educate and inform the disability community, political parties, candidates and the media about the technology.

The experience of the pilot project and feedback from the disability community showed that there is the opportunity for Elections Ontario to use accessibility technology in general elections. While it is not feasible to place accessible voting technology in every poll, using the technology during the advance vote period in a general election is a realistic and reasonable option.

This section sets out the estimated costs, and the legislative requirements for implementing accessible voting technology in the advance vote period of a general election. The Chief Electoral Officer requests the flexibility to place the technology in both by-elections and general elections so that all electors have access to a method to vote independently in their electoral district.

32 accessIBle votIng technology PIlot Project

overview of the Pilot Project

The Chief Electoral Officer’s decision to pilot accessible voting technology in the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election was announced prior to the issue of the writ in a January 22, 2009 letter to the registered political parties, a sample of which is provided in Appendix F.

The pilot project placed vote tabulators and assistive voting devices in all ten advance vote locations (in the returning office advance poll from February 21 to February 26 and in nine other area advance polls from February 24 to February 26).

The decision to use the technology in advance polls was based on cost and the fact that it was a pilot project. Advance polls provided a setting in which all aspects of the technology could be thoroughly tested and evaluated on a manageable scale.

The Chief Electoral Officer determined that the technology selected for the pilot project had to meet three critical requirements. The first was that the technology had to ensure the basic integrity of the election, by maintaining the paper ballot. The second was all ballots would be counted in the same manner. The third requirement was that electors with disabilities would be afforded the same voting experience as other electors, including the ability to vote privately and independently.

Legislative framework

Section 4.1 of the Election Act allows the Chief Electoral Officer to direct the use of voting equipment, vote-counting equipment or alternative voting methods at a by-election that are different from what the Act requires. The legislation also requires the Chief Electoral Officer to issue a directive describing the equipment in detail along with the provisions of the Act that will not be complied with. The directive is to be provided to the Speaker and the leader of each registered party 21 days before polling day, and posted on the Elections Ontario website. A detailed summary and copy of the Chief Electoral Officer’s directive for the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock by-election is provided in Appendix G.

Section 4.1 of the Election Act also requires that within four months of polling day, the Chief Electoral Officer must report to the Speaker on the use of voting equipment, vote-counting equipment or alternative voting methods and make recommendations regarding adoption of these methods on a permanent basis. The Chief Electoral Officer’s recommendations on the future use of accessible voting technology are set out at the end of this section.

Chief electoral officer’s directive

The following is a summary of the key principles that were set out in the Chief Electoral Officer’s directive:

all advance poll ballots will be counted using vote tabulators.

The use of vote tabulators as part of an integrated accessible voting solution is consistent with the accessible voting technology currently available in the marketplace. With this technology, the ballot marking device works with the vote tabulator. All ballots were counted in the same manner and it was not possible to distinguish between ballots cast by electors using assistive voting technology and ballots cast by other electors. This ensured the secrecy of the vote and provided the same voting experience for all electors.


electors with disabilities can choose whether or not to use assistive voting technology to mark their ballot.

Electors who did not want to use assistive voting technology still had the option available under Section 55 of the Election Act to ask for the assistance of a friend or the Deputy Returning Officer to mark their ballot. As this was the first time introducing machines, the Chief Electoral Officer wanted to ensure that electors were comfortable with the process.

Rejected and unmarked ballots will be returned to the elector so that the elector has the opportunity to confirm their choice or re-mark their ballot.

The Chief Electoral Officer directed that whatever technology was selected must offer the ability to return rejected and unmarked ballots. Electors would then have the opportunity to confirm their choices and accept the ballot as is, or re-mark their ballots. This is a change from the traditional voting process as provided for in the Election Act, but a necessary requirement to ensure that no elector was disenfranchised by the technology. This is consistent with case law at the municipal level where the Courts have decided that such ballots should be returned to the elector for review.

The directive also outlined the specific provisions of the Election Act that would not be followed. These provisions are also summarized in Appendix G.

description of Technology

The technology selected for the pilot project was the Dominion Voting Systems (DVS) ImageCast Tabulator and Ballot Marking Device. An Ontario-based company, Dominion Voting Systems was chosen via a competitive RFP process.

Dominion Voting Systems already had extensive experience working within Ontario, having been the selected vendor for 66 Ontario municipalities in the 2006 municipal election. Dominion Voting Systems also has provincial and international experience, working with the Chief Electoral Officer of New Brunswick to implement a province-wide tabulation and accessible voting solution for all the municipal elections of the province in May 2008. Dominion Voting System’s accessible voting equipment was also used in 53 out of the 64 counties in the fall 2008 Primary and General Elections in the State of New York.

Dominion Voting System’s accessible voting technology is a single piece of hardware that can process hand-marked paper ballots in addition to ballots marked by electors with disabilities via an integrated ballot marking device.


demonstration of Technology with stakeholders

Before deploying the accessible voting technology in the field, Elections Ontario met with members of the disability community, political parties, candidates and the media.

Elections Ontario consulted with organizations representing persons with disabilities at a session held prior to the call of the by-election on January 27, 2009 at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). The following organizations were represented:

Canadian Paraplegic Association Ontario (CPA)The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) The Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC)AODA Alliance ARCH Disability Law CentreOntario March of Dimes

••••••

Figure 4: Picture of DVS ImageCast Tabulator and Ballot Marking Device


The consultation included a demonstration of the accessible voting technology and a question and answer period. The technology was well received by the stakeholders who thought that it provided a viable solution to the challenges faced at the poll by electors with disabilities. The stakeholders were encouraged by the fact that the equipment provided equal access to the voting process to all electors and indicated their willingness to work in partnership with Elections Ontario to promote this initiative with their members. Elections Ontario followed up by sending an information kit to provincial and regional disability organizations so that they could share the information about the technology with their members.

On February 10, 2009, members of all registered parties were invited to Elections Ontario for a demonstration of the technology. Attendees were provided with an overview and hands-on demonstration of the equipment, an opportunity for questions and answers, and an information package including the Chief Electoral Officer’s directive.

Separate demonstrations of the technology were held for the media and candidates on February 19, 2009, the Thursday prior to the first advance poll. The media demonstration was attended by both local newspapers, The Lindsay Post and Kawartha Lakes This Week. The local CBC affiliate, CHEX TV, also attended. Although Radio-Canada was not able to attend the demonstration, they were given a brief demonstration and interview with the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer later in the afternoon. Three candidate representatives attended the candidate demonstration.

Communication of the Pilot Project

In addition to stakeholder consultations, a communications plan was developed to educate organizations that serve electors with disabilities about the ballot marking device and to inform the media, candidates and general public about the technology to be used at advance polls. This plan formed part of the broader public education and outreach strategy described in Section Two of this report.

Information on the vote tabulators and ballot marking devices was included in the householder that was available in print, on the website, in VoicePrint and in a Duxbury Braille file. Information on the new technology was also included in print and radio advertising. The Chief Electoral Officer’s directive was posted on the Elections Ontario website. Finally, a fact sheet was included in the outreach kits for electors with special needs.

Preparing the Technology for the field

Prior to the by-election, Elections Ontario undertook two key activities to prepare the technology for the field. One was to conduct logic and accuracy testing of the vote tabulators and ballot marking devices. The other was to implement measures to ensure the security of the equipment.

Pre-election Logic and accuracy Testing

The purpose of logic and accuracy testing is to verify that the vote tabulators are counting the ballots correctly and to provide full disclosure as to the accuracy of the equipment. A logic and accuracy test is conducted by processing a test deck of the actual ballots to be used on polling day through each vote tabulator. After the ballots have been processed through the tabulators, the output of the tabulation is compared with the pre-audited results to verify the accuracy of the vote tabulators.


The logic and accuracy testing for the pilot project was conducted on February 20, 2009 at the returning office. All candidates were invited, but there were no candidates in attendance for the test.

The pre-audited test deck consisted of 110 Ballots. The test deck included ballots marked by hand and ballots marked using the audio tactile, sip and puff, and paddle ballot marking devices. Testing the ballots generated by the ballot marking devices ensured that the devices were working correctly with the vote tabulator memory card.

Forty-seven ballots were marked by hand as follows:

Forty-five (45) ballots with a pre-determined numbers of votes for each candidate (one vote for candidate #1, two votes for candidate #2, etc.)One (1) unmarked ballotOne (1) rejected (over-voted) ballot

Sixty-three ballots were marked using the ballot marking devices as follows:

Forty-five (45) Audio Tactile (ATI) ballots with a pre-determined number of votes for each candidate (one vote for candidate #1, two votes for candidate #2, etc.)Nine (9) “sip and puff” (one per candidate) Nine (9) paddle interfaces (one per candidate)

The logic and accuracy testing was a labour-intensive process involving five staff over a 14 hour period. Two factors contributed to the lengthy testing process. One was the requirement to generate test ballots using the ballot marking devices for each of the ten tabulators, a process that took several hours. The other was the time spent waiting for the production and delivery of the pre-printed ballots. With nominations closing at 2 p.m. the day before logic and accuracy testing, there was very little turnaround time for ballot production.

Once the accuracy of the tabulators had been verified, the test results were recorded and certified by the Returning Officer. The test results were then erased from the memory card so that there would be zero results for the start of the advance polls.

security features

The memory cards for each tabulator were sealed into the machine with a tamper-proof seal and the equipment was covered and sealed with an additional seal. The serial numbers of each seal were recorded for later verification. The equipment was then delivered and secured at each advance poll location.

On each day of the advance poll, prior to the opening of the poll, the security seals were examined and verified to ensure that they had not been tampered with. This process was repeated for each day of the advance poll. The seals were also reviewed and verified prior to the production of results on election night.

•

••

•

••


advance Poll Process

Prior to the opening of the poll, a zero results tape was printed to show that there were no results in the vote tabulator. The zero results tape could be viewed by any candidates or scrutineers who were present.

Once the polls were open, the voting procedure at the advance poll was no different than the traditional process as set out in the Election Act up to the point of the issue of the ballot. The elector presented identification to the Deputy Returning Officer and the Poll Clerk checked the advance poll list of electors for the elector’s name. Once the elector’s identity had been confirmed, the Poll Clerk drew a line through the elector’s name and address. The Deputy Returning Officer then issued a ballot to the elector.

At the advance poll, electors were presented with three options to cast their ballot. In each case, the elector marked a paper ballot.

The first option was to mark the ballot by hand, which is the usual voting process in an election, where an elector goes behind a privacy screen and makes their selection with an “X.”

The second option, which is always available under the Election Act, was for electors who were unable to read or who are disabled to receive assistance from the Deputy Returning Officer or a friend to mark their ballot.

The third option was to choose an accessible voting session, where the elector could independently mark and generate a ballot using any of the following ballot marking devices:

Electors with limited or no vision could mark and generate a ballot by following step-by-step audio commands using an interface, or for voters with limited vision, by using a monitor to adjust a zoom control to better see the ballotElectors with mobility challenges could use either “sip and puff” technology (puff to toggle through choices, sip to make a selection) or paddles that are available at the unit

manual Ballot

Electors who chose to mark their ballots by hand received a paper ballot containing the names of the candidates and a box for the Deputy Returning Officer’s initials, similar in appearance to a traditional paper ballot. The main difference from a traditional ballot was the appearance of timing marks, which served as a security feature that enabled the tabulator to read the ballot.

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Figure 6: Election Day Ballot

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1 BILLDENBYFREEDOM PARTY OF ONTARIO

2 LYN EDWARDSNEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF ONTARIO

NOUVEAU PARTI DÉMOCRATIQUE DE L’ONTARIO

5 JAKEPOTHAAR

6 MIKE SCHREINERTHE GREEN PARTY OF ONTARIO

LE PARTI VERT DE L’ONTARIO

8 JOHN TORY

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FAMILY COALITION PARTY OF ONTARIOPARTI DE LA COALITION DES FAMILLES DE L'ONTARIO

PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF ONTARIOPARTI PROGRESSISTE-CONSERVATEUR DE L’ONTARIO

9 JOHN TURMELINDEPENDENTINDÉPENDANT

3 PAOLO FABRIZIOONTARIO LIBERTARIAN PARTY

PARTI LIBERTARIEN DE L'ONTARIO

4 RICK JOHNSONONTARIO LIBERAL PARTY

PARTI LIBÉRAL DE L’ONTARIO

7 JASON TAYLORINDEPENDENTINDÉPENDANT

Figure 5: Advance Poll Ballot

1 BILL DENBYFreedom Party oF ontario

4 RICK JOHNSON ontario LiberaL Party

Parti LibéraL de L’ontario

2 LYN EDWARDSneW demoCratiC Party oF ontario

noUVeaU Parti démoCratiQUe de L'ontario

3 PAOLO FABRIZIOontario Libertarian Party

Parti Libertarien de L’ontario

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5 JAKE POTHAAR FamiLy CoaLition Party oF ontario

Parti de La CoaLition des FamiLLes de L’ontario

6 MIKE SCHREINER the Green Party oF ontario

Le Parti Vert de L’ontario

7 JASON TAYLOR indePendentindéPendant

8 JOHN TORY ProGressiVe ConserVatiVe Party oF ontario

Parti ProGressiste-ConserVateUr de L'ontario

9 JOHN TURMEL indePendentindéPendant


Another difference was that the ballot was not folded. Instead, the elector received the ballot in a secrecy folder. The elector went behind the voting screen and marked the ballot with an “X” or other mark in one of the circular spaces on the ballot with the pen supplied.

Once the ballot was marked, the elector placed the ballot in a secrecy folder for privacy and returned the ballot to the Tabulator Deputy Returning Officer. The Tabulator Deputy Returning Officer was the official designated by the Returning Officer to operate the vote tabulator. After verifying the Deputy Returning Officer’s initials on the ballot, the Tabulator Deputy Returning Officer inserted the ballot into the electronic vote tabulator where it was scanned and then deposited into the ballot box.

assistance from deputy Returning officer or friend of elector

The process for an elector assisted by the Deputy Returning Officer or friend was similar to the process described for the manual ballot, except that the Deputy Returning Officer or friend would mark the ballot as instructed by the elector.

accessible Voting session

Electors who chose an accessible voting session received a blank paper ballot containing only the box for the Deputy Returning Officer’s initials. After determining the type of ballot marking device required by the elector, the Tabulator Deputy Returning Officer inserted the blank ballot into the device. The elector then marked the ballot using the device of their choice. Once the elector finished marking the ballot, the device printed the ballot with the elector’s vote markings on the blank ballot sheet and the ballot was automatically inserted into a secrecy folder for privacy.

Figure 7: Advance poll - blank ballot (before accessible voting session)

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An important feature of this equipment is that the ballot marking device produces a randomly generated mark in the space where the elector has made their selection. When the ballot is printed, it is not possible to distinguish whether the ballot was marked by hand or generated using the ballot marking device. This further protects the privacy of the elector.

Figure 8: Advance poll – unmarked ballot (after accessible voting session)

The last day of the returning office and area advance polls was February 26, 2009. After the polls closed at 8:00 p.m., the tabulators were powered off and the tabulators and ballot boxes were sealed with the security seals. A ballot reconciliation statement was completed by the Deputy Returning Officer to account for ballots received from the Returning Officer: ballots accepted by the vote tabulator, cancelled, declined and unissued ballots. The tabulators, ballots and statements were then secured and transported to the returning office.

The voter turnout for the returning office and area advance polls is shown in Table 12. In this by-election, nearly 18 per cent of all ballots were cast at the advance polls, compared with 12.7 per cent of ballots cast in the advance polls in the 2007 general election.

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1 BILLDENBYFREEDOM PARTY OF ONTARIO

2 LYN EDWARDSNEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF ONTARIO

NOUVEAU PARTI DÉMOCRATIQUE DE L

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