Cobourg has had online voting, in some form or other for many years.This year is different, it is online only. Gone are the paper option and the phone option. Nobody has explained why but we can tell you it is not a good change. When I first entered politics there were over forty polling stations in Town – all paper and the counting was an event. A few years back the ‘experts’ said go into cyber-space and participation will rise. We have yet to see that manifested in a big way. The only way to increase voting in Cobourg is to have a heavily contested Mayoralty race, but that is a minority position. Nope the rush to online voting is driven by the Millenials in charge of local politics and urge to save money.

Left behind in all of this are those on the other side of the “Digital Divide” the digitally illiterate – the older folks and the Luddites. Cobourg, in the ‘olden days’ used to have a polling station in every Seniors Facility as well as the Library and Victoria Hall. Nobody was left out. Not today.

With only three physical sites equipped with computers the folks on the other side of the Divide will not be voting this year, and that is a darn disgrace. The hardest hit folks will be the Seniors living in Seniors facilities. Even if those places were equipped with machines they will still be digitally illiterate. These folks deserve to vote, the way they have always voted – with paper. Honestly how expensive would it be to have a travelling vote setup consisting of one poll worker equipped with paper ballots and pencils moving from Seniors facility to facility during the voting period? The votes would be collected and counted at the close of the polls. Imagine that – everybody included and no-one left out!

Just our two cents worth