Beyond The Commons

 Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Idea alert

by Aaron Wherry on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 11:02am - 16 Comments

Windsor city council is voting by email.

Maghnieh said he took umbrage with the latest council matter to land in his inbox: a request to change a sign at Applebee’s on Division Road. He said it wasn’t urgent enough to warrant what he said should be a vote used only in emergencies. But city CAO Helga Reidel said that’s effectively what they’re used for anyway. She said she made the call to poll by email because the December request came in a month with no council meetings scheduled.

“It was important to that small business owner,” she said. ”It’s the 21st century. Email makes it easier to get in touch with councillors, and I think we should take advantage of it.” Reidel said the email votes are a rarity – there were about half a dozen in 2010, more in 2009 during the prolonged CUPE strike – and tend to come up only when the issue is urgent. Holding one or not is usually a judgment call.

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  • sourstud

    Yeesh. E-mail for electronic voting? I'm not completely against digitizing democracy, but e-mail seems about the most insecure way of way of doing it. Some councilor loses a Blackberery, and POOF! somebody else is voting for them.

    • Mark

      Not too hard to report a blackberry missing. A simple phone call to anyone at the city would fix that. Tell them any vote the receive isn't really their vote. You're right though, it wouldn't be too tough to set up a secure login to the City site or something like that for voting.

  • gottabesaid

    I appreciate the idea of the wheels of government not grinding to a halt, and the instance offered seems pretty innocuous, but it's only a matter of time before it's abused. Mark my words. MARK MY WORDS, I say (while angrily shaking my fist).

    • sourstud

      Wait until those Anonymous kids get their hands on this little bit on intel….

  • Emily

    Well they'll either have to meet more often, or learn to use email…or just tweet.

    If they're all that concerned about hacking….I suggest old tech like a phone.

  • A_logician

    Nobody has raised what seems to me to be an obvious point. Voting is supposed to follow discussion. There is no reference here to the effects of e-mail voting on the possibilities of discussion by e-mail, good or bad.

    Or are we now to assume that discussion has no effect on anyone's point of view? True as that may be, it is a discouraging sign for those of us who hope for a more rational society.

    • Emily

      It wasn't about the future of Windsor, it was about changing a sign.

      • MostlyCivil

        "It wasn't about the future of Windsor, it was about changing a sign. "

        This time.
        How about when they decide on which developer gets permits to build the new subdivision? or which supplier provides garbage service? or union wage demands?

        Sorry guys, loww tech solution? Hold weekly meetings, year round. It's a job, remember?

        Public votes, with time for deputations from the public and discussion and horsetrading. It's a cumbersome process, but it seems to work pretty well. It's also open and quite visible. They're called "public' servants for a reason.

        • Emily

          Simple question, not a major issue. In fact the mayor could just have said yes or no.

          How about eliminating the exaggeration?

          • MostlyCivil

            Nope. It was a vote. The mayor has no power on his own to say yes or no to anything. it was a council vote.
            If it was "a simple question" that didn't need a council vote, it would have ended up on the desk of a town employee who could have checked the bylaw and said "yeah, you can do that" or "no, you can't".

            I covered municipal politics for a dozen years. believe me when i tell you that this is a very, very bad idea.

          • Emily

            Yes, I'm also aware of municipal politics….and yes, the mayor could have resolved it. So could the clerk.

            Or so could a simple phonecall.

            This just indicates a council keen to spend hours debating trivia.

          • Emily

            Ping.

        • George_Pringle

          Email is happening out of view of the public and the potential for abuse in the future is quite concerning.

  • Rod

    This is not about the sign by law. It's about members of council having the opportunity ton debate, dialogue and ask questions. E mails are an undermine to the democratic process.

  • Jenn_

    Did you all know about this? http://www.onlineparty.ca/

    I think its a fascinating attempt, although I'm concerned that each issue gets voted on separately, for example: YES to tax cuts, YES to service increases, NO to deficit increases. Uh, ??

    I do see the problem with email voting, but I'm fairly sure you could do it through a secure portal. Come to think of it, that's how CIRA does it.

  • MostlyCivil

    No. I don't want public health decisions made by the public. I don't want urban planning decisions made by the public.

    And as you said, the breaking down of complex issues into silos makes for bad policy. "No Taxes! More services! Now!"

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