Mayor Andrea Horwath to ask for audit of Hamilton election glitches

Mayor Andrea Horwath has served notice that she'll ask for an audit of Hamilton's glitchy municipal election.

I think the people of the City of Hamilton need to know that that was acknowledged, first of all," Horwath said, but also that we're going to try to figure out how to make it better next time."

Delays at polling stations held up results in the tightly contested Oct. 24 municipal contest, forcing the city to extend voting hours at a dozen locations.

At the time, the city said the delay was rooted in connectivity" issues with the voters' list portal, which was managed by an outside vendor. Other municipalities experienced similar election-day headaches.

But in Hamilton, there were other hiccups, including late-arriving mail-in ballots and an accidental privacy breach involving a mass email that revealed the personal addresses of hundreds of would-be voters.

The city apologized for the error and pledged a review to ensure staff are trained in the protection of personal information." The city also notified Ontario's information and privacy commissioner.

Last week, Horwath flagged for council her plan to introduce a motion in coming weeks asking for a probe led by city auditor Charles Brown's office. The goal would be to report back with recommendations in May.

The mayor said that review should solicit feedback from candidates and also involve the skills of an outside elections expert.

We deserve to have democracy that functions and that the people have confidence in."

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com