Electronic voting blamed for Quebec municipal election 'disaster'

Last Updated: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 | 11:48 AM ET

CBC News

Quebec's chief electoral officer is urging the province to stop using electronic voting systems.

In a new report on problems with Quebec's 2005 municipal election, chief electoral officer Marcel Blanchet targets the electronic voting system used to collect and count the votes.

Quebec's chief electoral officer, Marcel Blanchet, ponders a questions during a news conference Tuesday to discuss a report on electronic voting.
(Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press)

The election was an expensive disaster marked by errors, which produced inaccurate numbers and unreliable results, the report said. And the new electronic system is to blame, it adds. 

But it's too late to question the results, Blanchet concludes.

The report is enough to convince Quebec to keep its current ban on electronic voting, said Municipal Affairs Minister Nathalie Normandeau.

But Montreal's main opposition party, Vision Montreal, is questioning the election results. 

Vision Montreal president Robert Laramée plans to hold a special meeting Wednesday to discuss the report's findings. The party hasn't ruled out asking the courts to strike the results, Laramee said. 

"Maybe one of the ideas, the solutions would be a judicial recount paid by the city – because this is the choice of the city to use the electronic votation, you know." 

Montreal City Hall is not commenting on the report.