E-voting cards raise prospect of fraud

Two votes for one person?

It's possible for people in the Halifax Regional Municipality who have received two e-voting cards, or those of family and friends who have died or moved away.

At least three CBC employees could cast a second ballot in the municipal election this month, if they were prepared to break the law.

Blair Rhodes got an electronic voting card for his father, who died three months ago.

"Obviously, I know his birth date and that's the only check or balance they have on these e-votes," said Rhodes, a producer with CBC-TV.

The municipality mailed cards containing a personal information number to everyone on the voters' list. About 280,000 people are registered to vote.

This Saturday to Monday, during the advance poll, voters can cast a ballot online or over the phone by inputing this PIN and their date of birth.

"You always expect some duplicates or deceased people to be on the voters' list," said Cathy Mellett, manager of the electronic voting project.

But the list has been reviewed and there aren't many problems, she added.

"We're dealing with a percentage well less than one per cent of 280,000, so not large numbers, but I'm sure people are disturbed by any numbers," Mellett said.

Experience 'really great'

The municipality has adopted electronic voting this time to make it easier for more people to vote.

The town of Perth, Ont., used the system by Dartmouth-based Intelivote in its fall 2006 election, abandoning paper ballots altogether.

Town clerk Lauren Walton said voter participation doubled and the cost to taxpayers was lower than previous elections.

"Our experience in Perth was really great and we had our results in five minutes of the closing of the polls," she said.

But there were a handful of people who showed up to find their secret code had already been used to cast a vote.

Walton said they were asked to fill out a form swearing this was their one and only vote, though there was no way to cancel the bogus votes or to identify who cast them.

Intelivote Systems Inc. says both paper and electronic voting are vulnerable to fraud, and without a confession or witness, it's impossible to prove who has cast multiple e-votes.

Mellett reminds voters that it's a criminal offence to vote more than once. She urges anyone who has received a voter form in error to contact the municipality's election office.