SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The city councillor associated with the IserveU platform says the site is now up and running, but low participation and unverified user accounts mean he won't yet base his council decisions on public feedback from the site.

People are free to use the IserveU website to debate municipal issues, but Coun. Rommel Silverio won't be using these debates to form his decision making until everybody signed up is verified as a resident who can vote, and until more people start using the site. - screenshot courtesy of IserveU

"Participation is a little bit low, but it's growing," said Coun. Rommel Silverio, adding approximately 1,000 people have signed up on the site.

Silverio was the only person elected in the October 2015 municipal election on the basis of the e-democracy platform, which would allow residents to vote and comment online on issues facing city council. Silverio would then make decisions at council based on IserveU engagement.

IserveU's political director Dane Mason said it will likely be another six months until his team can verify all of the registered accounts are real Yellowknifers who are eligible to vote.

"We don't have all the accounts verified, so we don't want to change that into any kind of binding motion," he said. "So right now, Rommel's just using (the website) as another tool in the belt to gauge public opinion and be able to understand more of the discussion . We don't think it would be prudent to use unverified accounts to dictate votes."

Mason ran unsuccessfully on the basis of the IserveU platform during the 2015 election.

Other city councillors still aren't convinced there's a need for the online voting system at all.

"I don't see what it changes," said Coun. Linda Bussey, who has been opposed IserveU in the past.

"People elect me because there's a sentiment of trust that I listen to them ... I don't think any councillor makes a decision without taking the pulse of the city."

Bussey added the city does an "amazing" job of reaching out to people on municipal issues and councillors are expected to know their community.

Coun. Niels Konge, on the other hand, said however people want to engage with council is fine.

But that doesn't mean IserveU is his cup of tea.

"I don't trust computers and if people want to talk to me about issues, I want to know who they are," Konge said. "I want to see them. I think there's a lot of value in being able to see a person and I think that when people write stuff on text or e-mail or whatever, there can be a lot that's lost in translation."

The online voting platform has ruffled feathers since the October 2015 election and faced several challenges along the way that have stalled its launch.

While organizers originally said it would be up and running by January 2016, doubts began to surface after Paige Saunders, one of the leaders behind the project, quit.

Volunteers continued to build the project and said it was undergoing testing last fall, but wouldn't say at the time when it would be open to Yellowknifers.

Silverio said he "maybe underestimated" during election time how big the project was going to be, but that he wanted to make sure he included people's feedback to make IserveU the best system it could be.

He's promising the website's finishing touches will be finalized by the end of his term in 2018.

"The way I look at it is at least before the end of my term, we will be able to present what I promised in the election," Silverio said.

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