Dear Editor:
It was a pleasure to read that Centre Wellington council has rejected the mail-in ballot. I have always opposed it.
I well remember another municipality in Wellington County using such a ballot, and the rumours that persisted after an electoral upset that dozens of ballots had been tossed into the post office blue box – but they did not remain there for long because a candidate happened by.
I covered the early Centre Wellington elections by phone, and they were a disaster. People were unable to vote for the candidate of their choice, and, it turned out in the second phone election, about 17 other municipalities were on the same phone system. And getting the results took forever. Meanwhile another nearby municipality had its results from a regular ballot at polls and everyone had gone home long before Centre Wellington’s results were available.
As for e-voting, just how secure is it? It’s a secret ballot, remember? A certain aspirant for the presidency of the United States might be able to offer a comment on the security of computers -even though she, too was sloppy about computer security.
As for the bogus argument that more people will vote if it is made easier for them, I find that disgusting. One of the last times I voted before moving from Elora, I remember being in line behind a gentleman in his 90s, accompanied by his grandson. The old man was blind, and his grandson helped him cast a ballot.
I suspect that gentleman actually fought for our democracy at one time in his life, and was doing his civic duty on that election day. Those who cannot be bothered to go to the polls should not have the privilege of voting. Whoever said democracy was easy?
Before making dumb changes to our electoral system, we should remember some of the wisdom of the ages: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
David Meyer
Chatham, ON
David Meyer