As millions of Canadians contemplate what it will take to work long-term from home in order to control the spread of COVID-19, MPs are considering a very particular problem: how to virtually vote.
As millions of Canadians contemplate what it will take to work long-term from home in order to control the spread of COVID-19, MPs are considering a very particular problem: how to virtually vote.
Options to do so are now on the table as members of Parliament and hundreds of behind-the-scenes staff begin to plan for what their headquarters could look like come fall, to the extent they can.
“Is it better to meet in person or virtually come September?” House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota said to the procedure and house affairs committee Monday.
“COVID has been changing so drastically along the way it’s very difficult to predict what will happen in a month and a half or two months from now.”
But in the meantime, a mobile app could be deployed to allow MPs to vote whether they’re on Parliament Hill or off, Rota said.
The app is fully bilingual, meets accessibility standards, and is secure, including providing administrators the ability to know where MPs are when they vote and authenticate their identities.
“The proposed approach for an electronic voting system respects several key principles,” Rota said.
Finding a way for MPs to vot