Greater Napanee mayoral candidate Robert Dorey is asking council to consider a recount of the municipal election results announced on Oct. 27. Dorey said in a statement issued to media and supporters that he has been “inundated with requests from supporters that I demand a recount of the votes cast.” Incumbent Mayor Gordon Schermerhorn regained the mayoral seat on Monday night with 2,907 votes — only three votes more than first-time candidate Dorey, who received 2904. While he doesn’t believe a recount will come up with a different outcome, Dorey does think that there are some major flaws with the electronic voting system that Greater Napanee adopted for the first time this election. “I don’t think that the results will change, but I think that it’s important that we use this opportunity to examine electronic voting in a way that really matters,” Dorey said in an interview with QMI Agency on Wednesday. “I’m doing this to draw attention to the flaws in the voting process. They were obvious to me, and to other candidates and residents in this election.”
In his statement, which is available in its entirety online at www.thewhig.com/dorey-statement, Dorey expressed concern with the electronic system and the holes it left open for fraudulent voting. A lack of identity verification prior to voting was worrisome to Dorey, and the possibility of duplicate or mistakenly mailed personal identification numbers (PINs), which were mailed to voters to be used via phone or online, falling into the hands of people who had already voted, caused him and others to question the system.
Town of Greater Napanee clerk Susan Beckel acknowledges there is room for error. “Obviously, there is a possibility (for abuse of the system), but there is a possibility with any system you use,” Beckel said. “Mail-in ballots are used for non-resident voters in other municipalities. That system is very similar to using electronic or telephone systems. In any system, there can be chances of fraud. We try to balance the accessibility, to open a system up to those that aren’t able to get out to the polls, people that are disabled. We’ve had a number of calls from people who couldn’t get out to the polls and said it was great to do it from home. We have to balance all those things.
Full Article: Close race leads to recount request | Napanee Guide.