Over Half of Canadian Voters Oppose Allowing Internet Voting in Federal Elections: Elections Canada Poll

Voters head to cast their ballots at the Fairbanks Interpretation Centre in Dartmouth, N.S., during Canada's federal election on Oct. 21, 2019. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

Over half of Canadians are against allowing voters to cast their ballots over the internet in federal elections, according to Elections Canada research.

After each federal election, Elections Canada conducts the National Electors Study, which produces two reports, one on voter experience and the other on the effectiveness of the agency’s Voter Information Campaign. In the latest report on voter experience, issued September 2022, voters were asked their opinion on election-related technology.

The majority of respondents, 52 percent, disagreed that voting over the internet should be an option in federal elections, with 31 percent strongly disagreeing and 21 percent somewhat disagreeing. A minority, 43 percent, agreed that it should be an option, with 20 percent strongly agreeing and 23 percent somewhat agreeing.

Of those surveyed, those more likely to agree that voting over the internet should be an option included electors aged 35 to 54 (45 percent), electors who completed university (45 percent), and Atlantic voters (54 percent).

Regarding whether voting on the internet is risky or safe, only 25 percent of respondents said it is safe while 53 percent said it is risky and 22 percent were unsure. In the 2019 poll, a smaller percentage (49 percent) said internet voting is risky.

The age groups for which a majority regard internet voting as risky are those aged 18 to 34 (60 percent of respondents in this group) and those aged 35 to 54 (53 percent).

Elections Canada said 76 percent of “electors who had not been vaccinated against COVID-19” viewed internet voting as risky, compared to 50 percent of those who had received at least one shot.

Voter Opinion

This marked the first year Elections Canada has considered vaccination status in evaluating voter opinions, noting that 43 percent of those who had not been vaccinated against COVID said the voting system in Canada is prone to fraud, compared to just 6 percent of those who had received at least one dose.

Elections Canada also reports that 70 percent of those without COVID shots said voting by mail in Canada is prone to fraud, compared to 17 percent of those with at least one shot.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, a 2021 report “Protecting Public Health and Democracy During a Possible Pandemic Election” considered allowing Canadians to vote in a federal election by smartphone. The report suggested the government “explore the options for establishing a vote by phone option.”

The proposal was rejected by a House of Commons committee before the 2021 federal election.

“Phone voting poses considerable challenges for properly verifying the identity of voters who vote this way,” stated Bloc Québécois MPs in a report. “It also opens the door to fraud, something important to consider especially in light of the theft of data and personal information over the internet in recent years.”

The committee voted 6 to 5 to ban smartphone voting. Conservative MP Karen Vecchio said at the time that the committee didn’t have “all the evidence that is necessary to support something like this.”

Canada’s federal elections have always been hand-counted using paper ballots. In the most recent National Elector’s Study, 34 percent of respondents said they preferred having paper ballots hand-counted, 37 percent had no preference, while 26 percent preferred machine counting. In 2019, more respondents (37 percent) said they preferred hand-counting.

Elections Canada paid nearly $757,000 for the research carried out by Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Incorporated.