Editor: The 2014 election is fresh on the mind of those who were successfully elected to 91原创 Township council, and also those that participated in the election by voting. This is the appropriate time to consider improvements to the process.
I concur with the action portion of the 2014 chief election officer鈥檚 fourth 鈥渟uggestion鈥� for 2018.
Our new councillors may not know that 2011 chief election officer Susan Palmer made the same recommendation in her report. The 2011 council decided to only receive that report for information.
I request that council seriously consider the adoption of suggestion #4 for 2018, with regard to online candidate information. After all, during their entire term in office, all council mmbers have their photo, together with biographies and contact information, posted.
During the 2014 election campaign, I visited the city websites of Burnaby, Vancouver and Surrey. All three provided a dedicated online space for candidates to have their contact information, photo, a short bio and a brief video posted. I believe it is great that these Metro municipalities implemented this strategy to aid their citizens in being able to make an informed vote.
In regard to the printed voters鈥� guide that both Burnaby and Surrey produced, posted online and distributed by mail, I request that council give consideration to implementing this. The booklet was not just a listing of the candidate information, it was information about voting as well.
I spoke to the Burnaby elections office. Burnaby did not charge the candidates for this service, which was voluntary for the candidates to participate in. The voters鈥� guide was sent out as cheaper unaddressed mail to all 94,000 households in their city.
I believe this is a fantastic idea the Township should consider for 2018. It reaches everyone that has a dwelling in the municipality. There are many voters that are not proficient at using the internet 鈥� especially seniors who do take their right to vote seriously.
The Township could investigate the legal aspect, and the feasibility of asking candidates wishing to participate to provide about a 50 per cent contribution to the production and distribution cost of their listing in the voters鈥� guide. That would be significantly lower than the cost to each candidate of promoting their campaign on their own.
Gloria Stelting,
91原创
