City of Hamilton fumbles mail-in ballot process, with delays, privacy breach

Mail-in votes for Hamilton's municipal election had a deadline of Oct. 13 to be sent back to the city, but someresidents received their ballots too late to submit them through the mail.

The delay in receiving the ballots was one of several issuesplaguing the mail-in method this week.

There were also unclear instructions,seeminglymissing pensanda privacy breach, afterthe city sent an email Thursday toaround 450 people, exposing theirnames and email addresses.

Ward 14 resident Su Heenantold CBC Hamiltonthat shereceived a notice that her ballothad been processed by Canada Post on Oct. 3, but received it only one day before the Thursdaydeadline to send it back in.

"We're going to have to look at dropping it off somehow," she said.

Mail-inbecomes in-person

City of Hamilton communications officer Antonella Giancarlosaidthe mail-in ballot packages were to be sent out on Sept. 30 and processed on Oct. 3.

"Based on Canada Post delivery timelines, it was our expectation that they would be delivered within the week, providing voters with enough time to return ballots," Giancarlo said.

According to the city, more than 3,000 people requested to vote by mail.It is unclear how many of those received their ballots before Oct. 13.

Now that the deadline has passed, voters with mail-in ballots can drop themoff in person at municipal service centres until Oct. 21 or atcity hall, until 8 p.m. on election day, Oct. 24.

For Heenan,dropping her ballot off in person isn't ideal, which is why she requested mail-in in the first place.

Heenan has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and epilepsy, related to a rare autoimmune disorder that makes it both difficult and dangerous she said for her to attend potentiallycrowded spaces, like election polling stations.

She still plans on ensuring her vote counts, she said.

"I need to vote for the candidate who I feel will do a better job caring for the vulnerable people in our city," Heenan said.

She's concernedabout others who may not be able to go in-person."I started worrying about all the other peoplewho weren't going to be able to get their ballots," she said, addingthat she has offered to gather ballots in her neighbourhood from other voters who didn't make the mail-in deadline.

"I wish I could go and collect every one of them and bring them in," she said.

'Use the pen provided'

Mail-in ballots also caused confusion for somebecause the top of the ballot said"use only the marking pen provided." No pens were included in the package, however.

Giancarlo said ballots sent out in the mail are the sameused at polling stations, where voters are provided pens. The instructions sent with the ballot package didnot clarify this.

"There was no pen to be included in the vote-by-mail package," Giancarlo said. Instead, a blue or black pen can be used from home.

When asked what happens if someone filled out a ballot with apen of another colour,Giancarlo saidthe tabulator will not read the ballot, and it will be set aside, assessed and "where elector intent is clear, a replacement ballot will be completed and submitted."

Leaked emails

After the city came under fire for delayed ballots, it sent an email Thursday evening with regards to the mail-in process,copying all those in the email openly, instead of usingthe Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) feature which keeps addresses hidden.

As a result, hundreds of Hamiltonians had their email addresses exposedin the email, including Heenan's.

"It just made me feel extra vulnerable," she said.

"It was my last name... and I just didn't want random people, you know, getting hold of that."

In a statement released Friday, the city said it "regrets the error and any distress that this incident may cause to those who have used the vote by mail process."

The city said it would be conducting "a review of processes to ensure staff are trained in the protection of personal information," and provided instructions for anyone wanting to file a privacy complaint to the city clerk's office or the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) of Ontario. The city would be letting the IPC know ofthe breach, it said.

No online option

According to the Association of Municipalities ofOntario, out of the417 municipal elections being held in the province this month, 217are usingonline or phonevoting. Hamilton is not one of them, however.

Giancarlo said online voting was brought before councilbut council "did not move forward for the 2022 municipal election" with the option.

City clerk Andrea Holland said in an Oct. 6, 2021,meeting that there wasn't room in the budget to include online voting, and that rural bandwidth being unreliable was a factor in the decision.

Voters can cast a ballot this weekend however at an advanced polling station.

• All of CBC Hamilton'selection coverage can be found here.