3. 2010 Municipal Elections – ADVANCE VOTE DATES & TIMES

ÉLECTIONS MUNICIPALES DE 2010 – DATES ET HEURES DU VOTE PAR ANTICIPATION

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

That Council approve:

1. Saturday, October 2, 2010 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday, October 14, 2010 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. as the dates and hours of operation for the advance votes for the municipal elections; and

2. That the implementing by-law be adopted for advance vote dates and hours.

RecommandationS DU Comité

Que Conseil approuve :

1. Le choix du samedi 2 octobre 2010 de 10 h à 17 h et du jeudi 14 octobre 2010 de 10 h à 20 h comme dates et heures du vote par anticipation dans le cadre des élections municipales;

2. L’adoption du règlement habilitant concernant les dates et heures du vote par anticipation.

Documentation

1. City Clerk and Solicitor’s report dated 9 February 2010 (ACS2010-CMR-CCB-0020).

2. Extract of Draft Minute, 2 March 2010.

Report to/Rapport au :

Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee

Comité des services organisationnels et du développement économique

and Council / et au Conseil

February 9, 2010 / le 9 février 2010

Submitted by/Soumis par : M. Rick O'Connor

City Clerk and Solicitor/Greffier et Chef du contentieux

Contact Person/Personne ressource : Catherine Bergeron, Manager, Elections & MFIPPA/

Gestionnaire, Élections & LAIMPVP

(613) 580-2424 x44127, catherine.bergeron@ottawa.ca

City Wide/à l'échelle de la Ville

Ref N°: ACS2010-CMR-CCB-0020

SUBJECT:	2010 Municipal Elections – ADVANCE VOTE DATES & TIMES

OBJET :	ÉLECTIONS MUNICIPALES DE 2010 – DATES ET HEURES DU VOTE PAR ANTICIPATION

REPORT RECOMMENDATION

That the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee recommend Council approve:

2. That the implementing by-law be adopted for the recommended advance vote dates and hours.

RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT

Que le Comité des services organisationnels et du développement économique recommande au Conseil d’approuver :

1. Le choix du samedi 2 octobre 2010 de 10 h à 17 h et du jeudi 14 octobre 2010 de 10 h à 20 h comme dates et heures du vote par anticipation dans le cadre des élections municipales;

2. L’adoption du règlement habilitant concernant les dates et heures du vote par anticipation.

BACKGROUND

The Municipal Elections Act, 1996 (MEA) requires a municipality to designate one or more dates prior to Voting Day as advance vote days. The MEA does not prescribe the actual day(s) but rather provides each municipality with the authority to select the days that best meet the needs of the municipality.

Subsection 43(1) of the MEA requires Council to pass a by-law establishing one or more dates prior to Voting Day as advance vote days. This is a mandatory by-law which Council must pass at least 30 days before voting day.

DISCUSSION

Establishing more than one advance vote day provides electors with additional opportunities to cast their ballot. Also, having more than one advance vote day can increase overall voter turnout.

In previous municipal elections, advance vote days were established with the first advance day held near the end of October and the second advance day during the first week of November. However, with the enactment of Bill 212, Voting Day has been moved to Monday, October 25, 2010. This requires both advance days to be scheduled for early to mid October.

Traditionally, the City has used a Thursday as the first advance vote day followed nine-days later by the second advance vote day on a Saturday. However, in order to meet administrative deadlines as well as being aware of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend (October 9-11, 2010), which could reduce the voter turnout if an advance day was scheduled too close to the holiday, staff is recommending Saturday, October 2, 2010 as the first advance vote day and Thursday, October 14, 2010 as the second advance vote day.

The City Clerk also proposes to continue with the strategy of serving residents of high-density multi-residential buildings and certain long-term care facilities not legislated to have regular Voting Day voting stations. This policy, which in most part aims to provide further access to senior citizens, has been well received.

For the 2006 Municipal Election, Council enacted a by-law to provide for advance vote days as follows:

· Thursday, October 26, 2006 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and

· Saturday, November 4, 2006 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

An analysis of the 2006 voter turnout data is underway to determine eligible facilities and most effective deployment of available City election resources. The number of advance vote locations utilized in the 2006 elections by ward and advance vote day is attached in Document 1.

A total of 48,391 electors voted during the two days of advance voting. This represents 8.6% of registered voters and 16% of the total overall number of voters who voted in the 2006 Municipal Election (300,039). The 2006 voter turnout by advance vote day per ward is attached in Document 2.

RURAL IMPLICATIONS

Due to the geographical size of the rural wards and separation of communities, all rural wards will be provided with more than one advance vote location per advance vote day.

CONSULTATION

There are no requirements for notice or public participation.

COMMENTS BY THE WARD COUNCILLOR(S)

This is a city-wide report.

LEGAL/RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

There are no legal/risk management implications arising from this report.

CITY STRATEGIC PLAN

This report relates to Governance Objective 3: Commit to and develop a democratic, engaging and visible process to maximize input from residents in the work of Council and in policy development, while ensuring that seniors, new Canadians, women and the economically disadvantaged are included.

TECHNICAL IMPLICATIONS

There are no technical implications arising from this report.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

Funds to operate the advanced votes are available in the 2010 Election budget.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

Document 1 – 2006 Elections - Advance Vote turnout

Document 2 – 2006 Elections – Number of Advance Vote locations

DISPOSITION

Legal Services to prepare implementing by-law for Council.

Document 1

2006 Municipal Elections

Advance Vote Locations

Ward	Advance Day 1 # of locations	Advance Day 2 # of locations
1 - Orléans	2	1
2 - Innes	1	1
3 - Barrhavan	1	1
4 - Kanata North	3	1
5 - West Carleton - March	2	3
6 - Stittsville - Kanata West	1	1
7 - Bay	27	1
8 - Baseline	8	2
9 - Knoxdale - Merivale	5	1
10 - Gloucester - Southgate	1	7
11 - Beacon Hill - Cyrville	1	4
12 - Rideau - Vanier	1	19
13 - Rideau - Rockcliffe	1	20
14 - Somerset	21	1
15 - Kitchissippi	11	1
16 - River	7	1
17 - Capital	1	11
18 - Alta Vista	1	21
19 - Cumberland	3	7
20 - Osgoode	2	4
21 - Rideau - Goulbourn	4	3
22 - Gloucester South - Nepean	2	4
23 - Kanata South	2	1
TOTALS	108	116

Document 2


2006 Municipal Elections Advance Vote – Turnout


Ward/Quartier	Oct-26	Nov-04
1 - Orléans	816	995
2 - Innes	819	776
3 - Barrhaven	833	704
4 - Kanata North / Kanata-Nord	1137	514
5 - West Carleton - March	793	833
6 - Stittsville-Kanata West / Stittsville-Kanata-Ouest	779	710
7 - Bay / Baie	4277	638
8 - College / Collège	1854	1159
9 - Knoxdale-Merivale	1120	985
10 - Gloucester - Southgate	520	1472
11 - Beacon Hill-Cyrville	557	987
12 - Rideau-Vanier	449	2494
13 - Rideau-Rockcliffe	613	2398
14 - Somerset	1979	513
15 - Kitchissippi	1607	808
16 - River / Rivière	1034	919
17 - Capital / Capitale	496	1646
18 - Alta Vista	703	2327
19 - Cumberland	717	677
20 - Osgoode	629	518
21 - Rideau - Goulbourn	846	707
22 - Gloucester-South Nepean / Gloucester-Nepean-Sud	492	708
23 - Kanata South / Kanata-Sud	954	879

TOTAL	24024	24367
OVERALL TOTAL	48391

2010 Municipal Elections – ADVANCE VOTE DATES & TIMES

ÉLECTIONS MUNICIPALES DE 2010 – DATES ET HEURES DU VOTE PAR ANTICIPATION

ACS2010-CMR-CCB-0020 CITY WIDE / À L'ECHELLE DE LA VILLE

Councillor Cullen felt Committee should hear from staff. He noted that setting advance voting dates was usually a routine matter but because the Provincial government had moved up the Municipal Election Day to October 25^th, the calendar became a little awkward, because of Thanksgiving. He remarked that normally there were two advance poll dates, one on a Thursday and one on a Saturday, and that these needed to be appropriately spaced to allow staff time to update the voters’ list. He felt it was unfortunate that the staff recommendation had the first advance poll date more than three weeks before the municipal election. He did not propose to impose a solution. Rather, he recommended the report be referred back to staff to rework the dates and come forward with a schedule that would better reflect the democratic process, serving the public in terms of the advance polls.

The Councillor added that many campaigns would be just ramping up around the first week of October and many candidates would not have any material available to voters at that time. He submitted that media coverage typically began closer to election date. In closing, Councillor Cullen opined that few people would be able to take advantage of that date because they would not be informed enough to cast a vote.

Councillor Monette agreed with Councillor Cullen, suggesting that by having an advance poll day three weeks prior to the elections was unfair for everyone. In fairness to anyone who wanting to run, he felt the date should be later in order to give all candidates a chance to communicate their platforms. He moved that the report be referred back to staff.

Councillor Harder suggested allowing staff to comment prior to voting on referral. She wanted to know how many days difference this was from the last election and the impact of the Thanksgiving weekend. Ms. Catherine Bergeron, Manager of Elections and MFIPPA, advised that during the last election, the first advance poll day was nineteen days prior to the Municipal Election, which was after the Thanksgiving weekend. She indicated this year, Thanksgiving weekend impacted the advance poll dates and informed Committee that the elections office relied on outside services to provide updated voters’ lists.

Councillor Harder felt staff had done a good job in working in the best interest of the people who would need to go out and vote.

Councillor Chiarelli felt the 2006 advance poll day had been too early, which was a comment he had heard from residents during the campaign. He felt that if there was a way to re-arrange the schedule to have the advance poll day later, it would make more sense to residents.

Councillor Desroches agreed with Councillor Harder in that staff had put a lot of analysis and thinking into the recommendation. He noted that there were two advance dates, therefore residents who were not ready to vote on the first date would have an opportunity to do so on the second date. He felt the City should be communicating with the airport with respect to residents who travelled south in the fall.

In response to a question on this matter, Ms. Bergeron confirmed that traditionally, the City lost its snowbirds around Thanksgiving weekend. Therefore, staff felt the October 2 date would provide an opportunity for these voters to cast their ballot without having to use the proxy process. She advised that a number of snowbirds disliked the proxy process as it was complex and it meant they were giving their vote to someone else to process.

In light of these comments, Councillor Desroches expressed his support for the report recommendations and indicated he would not vote to refer the matter.

Councillor Wilkinson reported hearing from residents during the last election that they felt the dates were too late. She felt Elections staff had a difficult job to do at electcion time and she believed the recommended dates had been selected to be most effective in allowing staff to do their job. She felt it would not be beneficial for members of Council to start meddling with the schedule and she expressed her support for the staff recommendations.

Councillor Cullen indicated he had started this conversation because he believed October 2, being 23 days before the election, would not be of good use of city resources in trying to accommodate voters who could not vote on Election Day. He re-iterated that he did not wish to impose a solution. However, he felt there were other possible dates that could work. As examples, he referred to October 7 and October 16, which would be closer to the election day. He also maintained that the two advance poll dates did not need to be on a Thursday and a Saturday, even though this had been the tradition.

Councillor Bloess argued this was not about members of Council, it was about the logistics of running an election that worked best for residents. He maintained that staff had based the recommendations on experience and on an evaluation of the best times to accommodate voters while still making the election work. He indicated he was satisfied with the report and would not support referral.

Councillor Chiarelli pointed out that prior to the last election, nomination day was 28 days before the election. He noted that incumbents would be four days into the campaign, holding an advance poll. He felt it distorted the public’s ability to participate. Secondly, he maintained that this was not supposed to be about what was easiest for staff. It was supposed to be about what was best for residents wanting to participate in the election.

Noting how much time remained before the election, Councillor Monette inquired about the impacts of deferring the report for two weeks to allow staff to provide an analysis in terms of the arguments made on this subject. Ms. Bergeron confirmed that there would be no major impacts in delaying the report by two weeks. She advised that the by-law needed to be passed 30 days prior to voting day.

Councillor Harder asked staff how the decision had been made on these dates. Ms. Bergeron advised that traditionally, advance voting dates were on a Saturday and a Thursday. She explained that two Saturdays were not available because of the Sabbath and because of Thanksgiving weekend.

At this juncture, Committee voted on the referral motion.

Moved by B. Monette,

That the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee refer the report to staff to rework the dates and come forward with a schedule that is a better reflection of the demographic process.

LOST

YEAS (3): Councillors R. Chiarelli, B. Monette, R. Jellett

NAYS (7): Councillors R. Bloess, G. Brooks, D. Deans, E. El-Chantiry, M. McRae, M. Wilkinson, S. Desroches

Committee then voted on the report.