If the Federal and Provincial Governments Refuse to Use Internet Voting, Why Is Pickering Charging Ahead?

If the Federal and Provincial Governments Refuse to Use Internet Voting, Why Is Pickering Charging Ahead? By Councillor Lisa Robinson If the Federal and Provincial Governments Refuse to Use Internet Voting, Why Is Pickering Charging Ahead? On May’s Monday night Council Meeting, I stood alone - once again - as the only Councillor voting to protect the integrity of our elections. Despite handing out six pages of hard evidence to the Mayor and fellow Councillor’s of real-world failures, court-ordered recounts, and documented examples from across Ontario, Canada, and the world - Council still voted 6 to 1 in favour of using a hybrid electronic-paper voting system for the 2026 municipal election. Let me be clear: electronic and internet voting systems have failed before, and they will fail again. In fact, they already failed right here in Pickering. In 2018, the system went down. Voters were locked out. People lost their democratic right to vote. Candidates demanded recounts and were told: “There’s nothing to recount, I just have to push a button, and I will get the same result” Why? Because there were no paper ballots. No backup. No proof. Just numbers on a screen - and a shrug from the system. So what did City staff put in the report for this agenda item? Not a single mention of the 2018 bandwidth failure. Not a word about people being denied their democratic right. No accountability. No transparency. Instead, staff downplayed the entire issue by saying some residents “found phone voting cumbersome.” That’s not just misleading - that’s an insult to every voter who got locked out in 2018. And then came the sales pitch: “In 2022, over 70% of voters used electronic voting - so clearly, it’s the preferred method.” Let’s talk about that. Yes, in 2022, voters had both options: paper and electronic. But this was still during a time of fear, uncertainty, and residual pandemic panic. Many residents were still nervous about public spaces, and many believed online voting was the safer, easier choice. That’s not informed consent. That’s fear-based compliance. People were still recovering from lockdowns, vaccine mandates, job losses, and just trying to get through. Of course they chose the “convenient” option. But how many of them were told the truth about what happened in 2018? How many knew that if the system failed, their vote would vanish with no recourse? How many were told that federal and provincial governments refuse to use internet voting - because it’s not secure, hackable, not transparent, and not verifiable? Pickering staff and council are now using pandemic-era data to justify moving forward with a method that even Elections Canada won’t touch. That’s not leadership. That’s a cover-up. If the truth about these voting systems were made public - And maybe if people understood how many elections have been overturned, how many systems have failed, and how many court challenges were needed to fix what software broke - maybe nobody would use them again. So here we are, possibly marching straight into another digital disaster - eyes wide shut. And the scary part is, we will never know, unless someone challenges the system. Let me ask this again: If Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill don’t use internet voting, why is Pickering acting like it knows better? Why are we gambling with democracy, after already losing public trust? The 2018 system crashed. The 2022 numbers are misleading. The 2026 plan is a risk. This isn’t innovation. It’s arrogance. And it’s already cost us more than we know. The people of Pickering deserve a voting system they can trust, verify, and believe in - not a digital black box they’re told to just accept. I will continue fighting for full paper ballots and real polling stations in 2026. Because if your vote can’t be verified, it doesn’t count. And if council isn’t willing to defend that truth, then what are we doing here? Councillor Lisa Robinson The People’s Councillor. Still Fighting. Always Will. Strength Does Not Lie In The Absence Of Fear, But In The Courage To Face It Head On and Rise Above It.