Quebec delays school board elections to 2020, preventing back-to-back elections this fall

The National Assembly voted Wednesday to delay general school board elections by two years, giving officials time to study and possibly adopt new methods of voting to reduce travel time for voters in rural Quebec.

Thedecision also meansschool board elections, originally slated for Nov.4, 2018, won't come on the heels of the provincial election set for Oct. 1, 2018.

"Having school board elections within a few weeks of the provincial election is no way to foster democracy," Education Minister Sbastien Proulx told reporters soonafter Bill 185passed.

Hosting back-to-back elections is not only tiring for voters, Proulxsaid, it also means Quebec's chief electoral officermust double up on responsibilities across the province.

Having school board elections within a few weeks of the provincial election is no way to foster democracy.- Quebec Education MinisterSbastienProulx

Bill 185went into effect immediately, deferring the school board elections to Nov. 1, 2020.

In the interim, Proulx said the government will look for ways to improve citizen engagement.

Dismal voter turnout

School board voting turnout is notoriously low across the province.

In rural parts of the province, voters must travel long distances to cast a ballot.

The new law stipulatesthe government willconsider new remote voting methods.

"We will be proposing new methods of voting in the coming months and year," Proulxtold reporters.

He said the government may test remote voting in a pilot project, although he couldn't say if that would be in place by 2020.

QESBAwelcomes law

Jennifer Maccarone, president of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA), praised the changes.

"We are finally investing in local democracy," Maccarone said.

She welcomed the government's plan to analyze voting methods andimprovepractices to ensure elections at the school board level are more successful.

"We have an opportunity to correct that, if we move forward with online voting," she said.

Some English-language boards cover vast distances, and Maccaronesaid voters are travelling as much as 200 kilometres one way to reach a voting station.

"With gas prices what they are, we understand that there is an additional expense for our community just to get to vote," she said.

"Sometimes they will arrive at the voting station to find out, 'Hey, I'm not even on the voter list.' So it is about time that we start looking at an electronic process or other means to improve democracy."