Does adoption of the voting reform in Ontario municipal elections positively affect voter participation ?
INTERNET VOTING
Internet Voting and Voter Turnout
Does adoption of the voting reform in Ontario municipal elections positively affect voter participation ?
By Nicole Goodman and Leah C . Stokes
With the 2018 Ontario municipal elections about two years away , many municipal administrators are in the process of determining whether they should make the move to modernize local elections , notably through Internet voting . In recent years , an increasing number of communities have adopted Internet voting and are either planning to offer it , or are considering using the voting reform , in the forthcoming election . Municipal uptake of Internet voting in Ontario has nearly doubled with each election since 2003 . With 97 cities and towns having used the voting method in 2014 , it is expected that around 200 will offer Internet voting in 2018 .
According to a 2014 survey in 47 municipalities across the province administered as part of the Internet Voting Project , the primary rationales for adopting Internet voting include to enhance accessibility , improve voter turnout and add convenience for voters . These responses focus on making it easier for voters to cast a ballot or encouraging voter participation . The common thread , however , is improved voter engagement in local elections . Hopes of voter turnout increases are echoed elsewhere in Canada ( e . g ., Nova Scotia ) where municipalities are also looking to modernize voting to reduce the perceived costs of casting a ballot and encourage residents to participate . As municipalities adopt and consider Internet voting , it is important to understand whether the voting reform impacts voter turnout to better inform municipal governments in their decision-making .
Internet voting and turnout To date , assessments of changes in voter participation from the deployment of Internet voting have been based on evidence in particular communities instead of systematic analysis of elections over time . When the City of Markham first introduced Internet voting in advance polls in 2003 , for example , they experienced a 300 per cent increase in voter participation , and a further 43 per cent increase in the 2006 election . Other cities and towns , however , have trialled the technology with much lesser effects , or observed a decrease in voter turnout , leaving many to question whether the voting reform actually improves voter participation .
Ontario is one of the best cases in the world to test whether voting online has an impact on turnout because adoption of the voting reform across municipalities varies over time . The number of binding local elections using Internet voting also provides many cases – 171 local elections used Internet voting from 2003 to 2014 . Finally , cities and towns have taken different approaches to Internet voting adoption – with some offering online ballots in advance of Election Day , some requiring registration to vote online and some eliminating paper voting altogether .
Drawing on local elections in Ontario from 2000 to 2014 , our recent study examined the extent to which , if any , Internet voting adoption impacts voter turnout . Inclusion of the 2000 elections provided a baseline for turnout rates before the voting technology was introduced . We also looked at the competitiveness of the race for mayor / reeve , and data from the census for population , population density , unemployment , income , proportion of population with a university degree , proportion of population aged 65 or older and proportion of population that are immigrants . We find that Internet voting adoption is associated with a three per cent increase in voter participation , and this result is consistent over time . This confirms that Internet voting impacts turnout positively , but what does this result mean for municipal elections and Internet voting adoption ?
First , it is clear from these results that the implementation of Internet voting in local elections is not the silver bullet solution to increase voter participation . Voter turnout is complex and a number of factors influence whether electors turn out at voting time . On the other hand , this increase should not be discounted as marginal . While it may seem modest , it increased the effective voting population by seven
NIKVECTOR / SHUTTERSTOCK . COM
MUNICIPAL MONITOR 19