TSIIGEHTCHIC/ARCTIC RED RIVER
The Gwichya Gwich'in Band will be blazing a new trail this month when it comes to voting in the NWT.
Chief Phillip Blake says all members of Gwichya Gwich'in Band have the right to participate in voting. - photo courtesy of Gwichya Gwich'in Band |
The band is holding a ratification vote on an election code and there will be two new options for members to cast their ballots - online and by telephone - in addition to dropping a ballot into a box or voting by mail.
Graham Drew, a consultant working with the band, said he believes this is the first time telephone and online voting will be used in the NWT.
One main advantage Drew pointed to in adopting the new system is that it allows easier participation by band members living outside of Tsiigehtchic.
"They have the right to be included," said Chief Phillip Blake.
Of the 360 to 370 eligible voters, only about 70 live in Tsiigehtchic, according to Drew.
"So you're talking about 70 to 75 per cent of the members are not in the community."
The online and phone voting will begin at noon April 7 and run exactly one week until noon on April 14.
"We have to close that off before the polling station opens the next day in Tsiigehtchic," said Drew, explaining there will be a process to avoid duplication of votes.
Following traditional voting at the polling station on April 15, the results will be announced April 16.
Drew was contracted last fall to work on an election code, which basically involved revising a draft code from 2008. That earlier draft was never ratified by band members.
During the revision, the Vancouver-based consultant held community meetings in Tsiigehtchic and heard concerns about methods of voting, particularly voting by proxy.
Drew recommended proxy voting be abandoned, but he didn't want to reduce the opportunities for non-resident band members to participate.
"I believe it's in the best interest of a band to ensure that they allow all of their electors, all of their members, the right to vote," he said. "So that's when I started researching other options. I looked at online and phone voting."
As a result, he found a company called Simply Voting Inc. in Montreal and recommended online and telephone voting to the Gwichya Gwich'in Band, which accepted the idea.
"I'm confident, otherwise I wouldn't have recommended it," said Drew of the process.
Blake also welcomes the new system.
"It's going to reduce the election costs," he noted, although he couldn't say by how much.
Drew told News/North the Gwichya Gwich'in Band has received funding support from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development to pilot the new voting system.
The consultant pointed out that, if the pilot project goes well, the voting system will be used again for chief and council elections in June.
"An election is another thing, and so this is a way we can actually evaluate it, and see if it is a fit, which I think it will be," he said.
Plus, Drew said other First Nations in the NWT might be interested in the system, since many bands have most of their members living outside their home communities.
Brian Lack, president of Simply Voting, said the company has worked on an election and a referendum for Mississauga First Nation in Ontario and two referendums for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne in Quebec.
"There have been no problems that we know of," he said.
Lack said the system is secure, private, convenient and accessible, including for people with disabilities.
"There could be a cost benefit, there could not be," he said.
"It depends on how you're doing the Internet vote and how you've done it before. Sometimes we're saving customers quite a bit, sometimes they could even be spending more. Usually it's comparable."
Lack said the Gwichya Gwich'in Band vote on its election code will be his company's first time working in the NWT.
The still relatively-new concept of online voting has not yet been widely accepted in North America.
"It's not allowed for public elections, except for Ontario and Nova Scotia," said Lack.
Drew, who previously served as the senior administrative officer with Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation, explained indigenous people have the right to self-govern, and that includes choosing their own custom election code.
Simply Voting offers up to five levels of security, including such things as a virtual ballot box only accepting one vote from the same voter.
"If a person tries to vote on six different devises, only one will go through," Lack said, adding other security features involve encryption and protection against hacking.
"We basically have security the same or even higher than online banking," he said.
Drew said online and telephone voting can get close to the level of assurance of in-person voting by asking for personal information, such as a person's band member registration number and date of birth.
For an election, but not the current ratification vote, he said a third level would probably be added - a personal identification number or a unique password.
Drew said telephone voting involves an individual calling a 1-888 number, entering his or her band member registration number and date of birth, and voting.
