{"id":6367,"date":"2024-01-09T16:58:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T20:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6367"},"modified":"2024-01-10T14:32:17","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T18:32:17","slug":"region-of-queens-councillors-want-electronic-voting-option-in-2024-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/01\/09\/region-of-queens-councillors-want-electronic-voting-option-in-2024-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Region of Queens councillors want electronic voting option in 2024 election"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Darlene Norman, mayor of Region of Queens. Photo Credit: Darlene Norman<\/p><\/div>\n

By Rick Conrad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Voters in the Region of Queens may be able to cast a ballot online in October\u2019s municipal election.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Darlene Norman says she\u2019s confident the region will be able to introduce electronic voting as an option this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors asked CAO Cody Joudry at their first meeting of 2024 to prepare a report on the feasibility and costs of introducing electronic voting to Queens, while keeping the traditional paper ballot.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI expect the cost to come back much more than pure paper voting, but it may not,\u201d Norman said in an interview after the meeting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut a combination (of voting options) would be good. \u2026 Younger people say that it\u2019s the thing that we need, but it would be interesting to do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Twenty of 49 Nova Scotia municipalities offered an electronic voting option in 2020. Elections Nova Scotia used electronic ballots in the July byelection in Preston. And it plans to allow e-voting in the 2025 provincial election.<\/span><\/p>\n

District 3 Coun. Maddie Charlton said it\u2019s time that Queens offers an electronic option in addition to the traditional ballot, to make it easier for people to make their choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important for us to move forward with this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

District 6 Coun. David Brown said it would also help encourage people in more rural areas of the municipality to vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith our widespread rural areas, it\u2019s hard for people to get out to the polling station. Having the electronic option will get more people involved.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Kiwanis Club of Liverpool<\/b> is closer to taking over the canteen at Queens Place Emera Centre.<\/span><\/p>\n

The region would lease the facility to the club for one year rent-free. The club would be responsible for ensuring food safety and insurance compliance. Kiwanis volunteers would operate it along with members of the Queens County Blades and the Queens County Minor Hockey Association.<\/span><\/p>\n

The three organizations would share proceeds from concessions sales.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of the Christmas holidays, staff couldn\u2019t have a final agreement ready for councillors to review at their Tuesday meeting. They voted to wait until they see the contract before giving their final approval.<\/span><\/p>\n

David Schofield, president of the Kiwanis Club of Liverpool, said Tuesday that his group is excited about running the canteen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good opportunity not just for the Kiwanis Club but also for the figure skating club and Queens County minor hockey who we\u2019ve asked for their support as well, because we don\u2019t have enough volunteers in our organization to do it. \u2026 A lot of people have made comments about not having a canteen available (at Queens Place), so I think it\u2019s win-win-win-win.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Steve Burns, manager of events, promotions and sponsorships, told councillors that it would likely take a couple of weeks after the contract is signed to get all the necessary permits in place for the Kiwanis club to take over.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other news from Tuesday\u2019s meeting:<\/b><\/p>\n

Councillors want to try to address garbage pileups<\/a> in Queens County cottage country.<\/span><\/p>\n

District 6 Coun. David Brown asked staff for recommendations to address the problem.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said the 40 so-called \u201cgrey box\u201d sites on private roads throughout the county consume half of the region\u2019s garbage collection budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese are places that have large tax revenues for us that we don\u2019t provide a lot of services for,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd nobody wants to see a mountain of garbage every time they drive into beautiful, pristine wilderness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Darlene Norman says it is a \u201chuge problem\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd people in the Labelle and Molega area, some people are paying $10,000 property tax out there for no services. It is an issue that has to be dealt with.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors asked staff <\/b>to prepare an inventory on burnt out streetlights in the region, and press Nova Scotia Power to fix them more quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n

District 1 Coun. Kevin Muise said many residents have complained that several streetlights haven\u2019t been working in some areas for up to three months. He\u2019s concerned about safety for motorists and pedestrians.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are six streetlights out on Shore Road in Mersey Point alone, council heard. Many are out for longer than the 60-day service guarantee.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nova Scotia Power is supposed to maintain the lights, but the region pays for them, even when they don\u2019t work, Norman said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are paying for a tremendous amount of street lights which are burnt out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Listen to an audio version of this story below.<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/newsupdatejan924.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rick Conrad Voters in the Region of Queens may be able to cast a ballot online in October\u2019s municipal election. Mayor Darlene Norman says she\u2019s confident the region will be able to introduce electronic voting as an option this year. Councillors asked CAO Cody Joudry at their first meeting of 2024 to prepare a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[1498,1427,79,793,1576,1573,95,1549,1550,351,1569,24,1574,1575,1577],"class_list":["post-6367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-2024-nova-scotia-municipal-election","tag-cody-joudry","tag-darlene-norman","tag-david-brown","tag-electronic-voting","tag-kiwanis-club-of-liverpool","tag-maddie-charlton","tag-queens-county-blades","tag-queens-county-minor-hockey-association","tag-queens-place-emera-centre","tag-queens-place-emera-centre-canteen","tag-region-of-queens","tag-regional-council","tag-steve-burns","tag-voting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6367"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6387,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6367\/revisions\/6387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}