Halton Hills spends $200K to manage 2026 election — after 50% voted from home last time

By: Christian Collington, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TheIFP.ca

 

Halton Hills council has approved a $200,000 contract with Neuvote Systems Inc. to manage the 2026 municipal election.

 

The decision, discussed during the Jan. 26 council meeting, marks a transition toward a single-vendor “ecosystem” designed to increase operational efficiency and voter accessibility.

 

According to Alexandra Fuller, the town’s director of communications, the previous provider, Dominion Voting Systems Corp., no longer offers online voting services.

 

This resulted in a new search for a vendor capable of handling the town’s dual requirements for both online advance voting and in-person Election Day voting.

 

Halton Hills’ municipal election is scheduled for Oct. 26, where the town aims to build on its utilization of online voting, first introduced during the 2022 election.

 

Residents will have the opportunity to cast their votes online only during the two-week advanced voting period leading up to the election.

 

According to a report submitted to council, 50 per cent of Halton Hills voters chose to cast their ballots online in 2022.

 

The report also stated that other services Neuvote Systems Inc. will be responsible for include ballot creation and printing, voter notification letters, voter list integration and management, laptops for digital check-in as well as providing vote tabulators for election day.

 

Coun. D’Arcy Keene expressed support for the concept of online voting but highlighted concerns about technical vulnerabilities.

 

“The public has to be 100 per cent sure that when they’re going to be engaged in this kind of voting, that their vote counts,” he said.

 

Town clerk Valerie Petryniak emphasized that security is a top priority. She explained that Halton Hills is partnering with a group of municipalities to hire an independent third party for “penetration testing” to attempt to hack the system and identify vulnerabilities before the election.

 

She added that Neuvote is “fully agreeable to this process.”

 

The proposed plan introduces operational changes aimed at reducing waste and improving access:

 

  Online advance voting: Advance voting will be conducted exclusively online, a move Mayor Ann Lawlor supported, noting that “nowadays, people expect that kind of access.”

 

  On-demand ballot printing: According to report submitted to council, 26,000 preprinted ballots went unused during the 2022 election. To eliminate waste, polling stations will now print ballots only as voters arrive.

 

Petryniak noted that online systems often provide superior accessibility for voters with disabilities, as they can utilize their own assistive technologies at home.

 

Coun. Clark Somerville expressed support for the plan and stressed the need to “get moving” given the extensive preparation required for the election on Oct. 26.

 

With the contract approved, town staff will proceed with “logic and accuracy testing” to validate every tabulator and online voting scenario before the official vote begins.