Claims of election interference could erode trust in results, political researcher says
Posted October 14, 2018 9:23 am.
Last Updated October 14, 2018 10:48 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Recent claims of election interference in Metro Vancouver municipalities may not be huge in terms of numbers, however, one political researcher worries it may erode trust in the democratic process.
Megan Dias, political researcher with the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, says faith in the results of the upcoming municipal elections is at stake after allegations of election interference came up in Surrey, Richmond and Vancouver, which worries her more so than what voter turnout will be.
“It wouldn’t so much be, people wouldn’t go to the polls, it’s that they wouldn’t trust the democratic process,” she Dias says. “You might see people who lose coming out and demanding further investigation.”
Though she is concerned about the scale of the interference claims, spanning Metro Vancouver’s biggest municipalities, Dias says the quick response to investigate what happened is commendable.
“I think we’re talking about a fairly small number of voters or potential ballots, so I don’t think this is necessarily unprecedented, or that this is going to be a majority of ballots cast,” she adds. “With the case in Surrey, with those 72, or 69 ballots that were in question, none of those [was] actually sent out.”
Going forward, she wouldn’t want to see policy changes to mail-in ballots after the allegations because that would negatively impact an already low voter turnout.
“This result in policy changes, result in additional requirements that actually makes voter turnout lower and actually discourages people to go to the polls even more,” she says. “People do rely on mail-in ballots. It makes things easier for a lot folks who can’t get to the polls.”
— with files from Taran Parmar
