Saugeen Shores voters may have used a paper ballot to elect their municipal council for the final time.
Council has directed staff to prepare a bylaw that would see the voting method for the 2018 municipal election changed to electronic voting by Internet and telephone, away from the current method of vote-by-mail.
Several councillors expressed concern over the potential change, including Deputy Mayor Luke Charbonneau, who says it's change for the sake of change.
Charbonneau says electronic voting will not cost less than the $62,000 budgeted to conduct the election, nor is it proven to improve voter turnout, which is largely driven by the mayoral race and the issues of the day.
He points to the looming recounts of the presidential vote in the United States, fuelled by concerns over irregularities in electronic vote tabulation and while that's not something he expects to see in Saugeen Shores, he says there's no reason to risk it.
Councillor Neil Menage is among the majority of councillors who voted to proceed with electronic voting and he says it's an inevitable change, so Saugeen Shores should embrace the technology now.
"Electronic systems, including computer code for an election, is the wave of the future and we have a chance to be part of that future right now," says Menage. "And I don't think we should be afraid of it, we should take that leap of faith."
Saugeen Shores council must pass a bylaw to change the voting method for the 2018 municipal election by no later than May 1st, 2017.
