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Voting changes urged

A candidate in the 2011 municipal election is urging the City of New Westminster to consider improvements to the electoral system. Vladimir Krasnogar appeared before city council Oct.

A candidate in the 2011 municipal election is urging the City of New Westminster to consider improvements to the electoral system.

Vladimir Krasnogar appeared before city council Oct. 15 to voice concerns about potential abuses of the current system of voting.

"Currently it makes it very difficult to determine if there were any voting irregularities, such as someone voting more than once," he said.

Although people are able to vote electronically, Krasnogar said staff at the polling stations manually keep track of who votes and the computers don't detect if people have voted at more than one polling station. While that system may have worked in the past he doesn't think it works as well with the city's growing population.

"It becomes insufficient when the number of voters in New Westminster approaches 55,000," he told council. "In other words, the city outgrew its electoral system."

Krasnogar believes the situation could be particularly problematic in elections having tight races.

Council questioned whether Krasnogar is aware of persons who may have voted more than once.

"Whether I know about it or not is not the point. ...The point is the city should be able to provide an official answer," he said.

Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said studies show the likelihood of someone voting at more than one polling station is "minute" in civic elections. He's concerned about making any changes to elections that would make it harder for people living in homeless shelters or homeless individuals to vote.

"I have seen no evidence that there is any kind of multiple voting going on in New Westminster," he said.

Coun. Jaimie McEvoy said he would not want to do anything to make it more difficult for people to vote as voter turnout is low enough in civic elections.

Coun. Jonathan Cote said it would be good to give the city's legislative services department direction to explore any controversial issues around elections and report back to council.

Krasnogar said a municipal election won't take place until 2014, but it's not too early to start thinking ahead. He said Burnaby city council recently received a report from on elections.

The City of Burnaby recently approved a number of changes to municipal elections, after receiving a report from its 2011 chief election officer, Anne Skipsey.

"Voter turnout has been on a steady decline over the last decade," the report stated. "The recommendations in this report focus on increasing voter participation by making it more convenient for electors to cast their ballots and enhancing the overall experience at the polls through a faster and more streamlined process."

The Burnaby NOW, which is The Record's sister publication, reported that one of the report's recommendations was to use an electronic list of electors, which would allow names to be struck off electronically as electors receive their ballots and vote. In an attempt to increase voter turnout, the report also recommended placing polling stations at select shopping centres and community facilities.

tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com