Municipalities report no glitches with online voting

Officials in Clearview and Mulmur are reporting smooth sailing on Election Day.

Both municipalities switched over to online and telephone voting for the first time.

The voting system allowed for a vote count to be complete almost immediately after voting ended at 8 p.m.

Voter turnout in Clearview was 41.8 per cent.

“I think it went really well. We got the results really fast,” said Clearview clerk Pamela Fettes.

She said the only delay was that staff at town hall waited for official notice that everyone had exited the system.

The results were in by 8:30 p.m. and then inputted into a Power Point program to be displayed at the Stayner Arena, where some of the candidates and members of the public had gathered.

Of the 5,111 who voted in Clearview Township, 3,580 voted online and 1,531 voted by telephone.

Fettes said she received mostly positive feedback from people who had a good voting experience.

“The phrase seemed to be, ‘that was slick’,” said Fettes. “That’s what we’re hearing, ‘I voted before I went to work’ or ‘I voted while I was watching the hockey game’. This is what we’re hearing.”

She said she did hear from people who wished they could have gone to a voting station but Clearview has voted by mail for the last three elections. She said people are thinking of when they go to the polls faor provincial and federal elections.

Fettes said a comprehensive election report will be ready in about two weeks. It will give more insight as to demographics, where people were when they voted and what devices they used. 

Voter turnout in Mulmur was at 35.8 per cent.

Of the 1,244 people who voted, 843 people voted online and 401 used the telephone.

“It was good, we were out of here before 9 p.m.,” said Mulmur CAO and clerk Terry Horner. “It was midnight last time. It was great. We didn’t have any glitches at all.”