GuelphToday received the following letter to the editor from Aerin Milley Smith:
Hello Tony,
I have sent the following letter to Guelph council and the mayor.
I was extremely happy to see council follow the recommendation of the Accessibility Advisory Committee on the issue of online voting, and am writing in support of online voting. I understand there are a number of delegates scheduled to speak at the upcoming council meeting against online voting; unfortunately I am not able to attend and delegate in support myself. Instead, I am writing to express my support for online voting.
These anti-online-voting arguments reveal a double standard around risk tolerance and voting. For example, a voter who is blind or low vision must walk into a voting location, have someone else mark the ballot, and have no way of ever knowing if they did so correctly. How "secure" is that? That is an actual security issue that has happened, and is happening, not a hypothetical "what if" scenario. Why is that actual security risk ok, but the mere potential of a security threat in internet voting is not?
Another example is the low ID verification barriers to in-person voting and by-mail voting. I can walk into a polling station with nothing more than a hydro bill, sign my name, and vote. Mail-in ballots can be intercepted. Hardly cracker jack security!
Again, why is this an acceptable level of risk for other voting methods but not online voting?
In fact, we actually prioritize making it easier to vote in person over 100 per cent voter ID security because voting is so important that everyone should be able to do it. We should show that same commitment to accessible voting options for Guelph's disabled community. To quote Mayor Guthrie re: online voting, "The risk that is there, I recognize, but there is a tolerance of risk," just like there is with in person and vote-by-mail options.
Is the only acceptable security standard for internet voting 100 per cent certainty that no one will even TRY to "hack" into the system? That's not the standard we use for any other voting method. I urge Council to uphold the decision to move forward with online voting asap. As with online banking, online shopping, online government services, online job applications, online exams, etc. etc. etc. I am confident we can manage security risks, and respond appropriately to attempts to disrupt election integrity, just as we do with all other voting methods.
Guelph is lucky enough to have a literal DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY SPECIALIST chairing the AAC, but I opponents to online voting quote another expert they found online, or this guy they know who knows a lot about the internet, while ignoring the LITERAL ACTUAL EXPERT right in front of them, telling them what the disabled community needs and how to manage the risk. I agree with Root that this appears to be "calculated from a place of privilege and without considering the lived experience of disabled individuals."
In addition to allowing Guelph's disabled community to fully participate in Guelph elections, online voting benefits the whole community (as is so often the case with accessibility improvements!). Voters who don't drive will have a much easier time voting, and will not be impacted by weather or transit events to the same extent. Guelph voters can vote while travelling. We know that more people vote when online voting is available, and that is wonderful and what we should be striving for.
I applaud council for moving to reinstate online voting in Guelph and urge you to continue supporting online voting.
Thank you.
Aerin Milley Smith
Guelph
