Alternative voting process proves successful

A municipal election that saw the Town of Amherst use an alternative voting process for the first time in its 131-year history has proven successful.

“Considering the many challenges created for us by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to introduce new technology, such as alternative voting, I’m very pleased with how the process went,” Returning Officer Kim Jones said, following the close of the voting on Oct. 17, 2020.

“The alternative voting process, provided by Intelivote System Inc. of Dartmouth, worked extremely well.”

The challenges created by the pandemic included finding a way to meet provincial public health orders and ensuring people’s health without hindering their right to vote. The solution was an alternative voting process that did away with paper ballots by enabling voters to use their phone, computer or smartphone to cast a ballot between noon on Oct. 5, 2020, and 7 p.m. on Oct. 17, 2020.

As an example of how successful the alternative voting process was, Jones pointed to the participation rate that saw 52.4 per cent of the town’s 7,673 eligible voters cast a ballot. That compares to a 51 per cent participation rate from the 2016 election when paper ballots and polling stations were used.

“While there was a huge change in the election process, compared to what people were used to, the voter participation showed the resident of Amherst embraced the new system,” Jones said.

The unofficial results of the election are: