Electronically recording council votes gets off to a rocky start. At least they are trying.

By Pepper Parr

December 20, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

It almost worked.

It sort of worked but either the technology wasn’t quite right or the people pushing the buttons weren’t properly trained.

For those watching the live web cast of the last city council meeting for the year there was a peek at the way the decisions made by Council members are going to be recorded.

A partial screen shot of the first electronically recorded vote taken at city council on December 19th, 2016. The new software did not work as effectively as it was supposed to – they will try again next year.

In the past votes were by a show of hands with Councillors popping their hand up and down before there was a chance to see specifically who had voted which way.

The Mayor would glance left and the right – figuring there was a majority and declare the vote had carried.

The official minutes of a Council meeting would just say that the vote carried or failed – you had no way of knowing how your member of Council actually voted if you wanted to find out where they stood on something that took place several months or even a year previously.

Council decided some time ago to move from the raising of hands to record city council votes to an electronic process that called for council members to use a small keypad to cast their vote. Once that was done a screen would appear with the result.

The Gazette will publish these the day after each council meeting.

Unfortunately the men and women you elected to council don’t want you to see how they vote at the Standing Committee meetings – which is where, for the most part, the real debates take place. Votes at that level are still a “put your hand up in the air” process. Several Councillors seem to be a little shy about letting anyone one see how they votes – they put their arm up a couple of inches, wiggle their hand and feel they have done the right thing. Councillor Craven is the worst offender.

The rationale one gets from Council members is that they may well change their minds after a Standing Committee meeting. And the problem with that would be?

One would like to believe that the ability to change your mind after hearing from your constituents and reflecting on what took place would be seen as a sign of a mature politician; apparently not.

All their votes taken at city council meetings will be electronically recorded. The first attempt to do this failed – system was not fully tested before going live.

For the immediate future city council votes will be recorded, which council members will tell you are the ones that really count?