By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Cobourg council got a Municipal Elections 101 tutorial from Municipal Clerk Brent Larmer on important dates and information leading up to the big event this fall.
All 444 municipalities across Ontario are in an election period leading up to Oct. 26, Larmer noted.
In Cobourg, voting is entirely on-line. There will be four voter-assistance centres available for in-person voting and support. In nursing homes, they work with client care workers to ensure potential voters are registered and that they get the opportunity to vote.
Nominations open May 1 and close at 2 p.m. Aug. 21. No candidate can campaign until they submit their nomination papers. Results will be announced after 8 PM Oct. 26.
The first day of the new council term will be Nov. 17, and the inaugural council meeting will be at 6 PM Nov. 25.
The core election team consists of the Municipal Clerk, Deputy Clerk and clerk’s support staff, with corporate staff from other municipal staff.
“It’s truly a corporate-wide project,” Larmer said.
For this year, he added, “the central work for the clerk’s office would be conducting work for the municipal election.”
The Municipal Elections Act gives the Municipal Clerk responsibility for conducting the elections and has provisions to protect election integrity. Key principles are integrity and transparency, fairness and equal opportunity, public trust in the outcome and accountability under provincial law.
The role of the Municipal Clerk is to administer the election, ensure compliance with the act, establish procedures and forms, oversee the voting process and issue official results. In carrying out these duties, the clerk must operate independently and maintain neutrality.
The municipal staff must support the clerk’s office in this work and – while doing so – also maintain neutrality.
Council members cannot receive privileged information, use their position to advance a political campaign, request preferential treatment from staff or engage staff in campaign assistance.
A municipal election website should be coming shortly.
As well, Larmer said, Cobourg (as the largest municipality in the area) must also run the school-board elections.
This is the first year Elections Ontario will issue the voting list, which was previously done by MPAC.
Cobourg was one of the first municipalities to introduce on-line voting, back in 2006. Larmer said it has proven a frugal move.
“Multiple polls would have to be set up as well as hiring election workers and renting scanners from the province, as well as the election results wouldn’t be as fast,” he said, noting that results may be available as quickly as 20 minutes after polls close.
As part of the motion to receive the report, an amendment asked for a pause on the Province of Ontario disbanding democratically elected school-board trustees.
Attending virtually while on holiday, Mayor Lucas Cleveland said he would not support this motion, “But it has nothing to do with the fact that I do support our local trustees.
“I don’t believe it’s up to local municipalities to tell the province what they should and shouldn’t be doing on their files.”
