The Progressive Conservative party is raising concerns about new voting technology that will be used to cast and count ballots in Ontario’s provincial election, CBC News has learned. The June 7 vote will be the first general election in Ontario to use the electronic voting machines. The technology includes devices than scan voter cards and tabulate marked ballots. The provincial agency overseeing the vote worked frequently with all the major parties over the past three years to test and demonstrate the reliability and security of the new technology. However, since Doug Ford won the PC leadership in March, the party has contacted Elections Ontario multiple times with questions and concerns. The PC party lawyer, Arthur Hamilton, wrote to Elections Ontario this week to flag several issues, including concerns about protection from hacking and the certification of the vote-counting machines.
In separate letter dated May 17, PC officials accused Elections Ontario of providing the party with inadequate information about the vote-counting equipment. The officials asked for a private briefing on the new technology, but Elections Ontario refused to grant such a meeting during the campaign period.
“Among the 28 parties, there’s a very high level of confidence in the technology and we have had very few concerns raised at all,” said Deborah Danis, chief administrative officer of Elections Ontario
“Integrity is the cornerstone of our organization,” Danis said in a phone interview Thursday. “We have the utmost confidence in this technology.”
Full Article: PCs flag concerns about Ontario’s new voting machines | CBC News.