Kincardine resident still objects to electronic-only voting system

To the Editor:

The following is a response to John McPhee, communications specialist for Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson's office. He had referred the voter to a news release the Municipality of Kincardine posted in response to concerns about privacy and the Oct. 22 municipal election.

I've read this information. Kincardine clerk Donna MacDougall has been in touch with me and we've spoken but, I'm sorry, I do not trust the electronic system of voting. 

My issue is that the municipality has switched to electronic with no recourse for those, like myself, who do not trust it or feel comfortable with it.

There are news stories of municipalities being held "ransom" by hackers who have locked up their systems and refuse to release them unless paid off and yet, we're supposed to put faith and trust in a system because the municipality has bought into something that a company has assured it is "safe?"
 
We teach youth that once you put something on-line, regardless of whether you delete it later, it exists forever in cyberspace for someone with the technology and capability to find it. Hospitals and banks aren't safe from hackers accessing personal information and yet, we are supposed to be assured and trusting that this system of voting is?

Sorry ... but no. Regardless of all the assurances and platitudes, as soon as you enter a PIN (Personal IDENTIFICATION Number) you are at risk of having your information accessed somewhere, somehow. The paper ballot system is the only way to guarantee complete and total anonymity. Without this, I truly feel, you cannot vote without putting yourself at risk of being open to having your privacy infringed upon.
 
In today's age, privacy is almost a farce and non-existent. What little we have, we should cling to and fight for. Every keystroke on your keyboard is traceable; why make it easier for the powers that be? I'm not saying that the municipality should not have the electronic voting, but it should also have paper ballots available. It should be a choice, not all or nothing.
 
My right to vote has been stripped away because of this electronic-only system. I cannot even refuse my right to vote because to do so, I have to log-on and use my PIN which negates the entire point that I am trying to make.

I will NOT vote if it is an all electronic system simply because I do not trust the system. I don't put that kind of information out on-line, the Internet or the phone. That information is between me and my God.
 
Sadly disheartened in the system,
Sandra Benbow
Kincardine