Procedure and House Affairs committee  The same. It will be the same ballot. There will be no way of distinguishing it from the others. It will be placed in the appropriate box and counted in exactly the same way, and it will not be possible to know whether the device has been used or not.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We had observers on site. They were there to see how the process worked and learn how to operate the device before we began any pilot projects. We followed the exact same process in Ontario. We will also have observers on site during municipal elections, particularly in Ottawa, w

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. It's a riding that is well suited to this type of pilot. We obviously want to ensure that the devices work properly, but we have no indication that they do not. They have been tested. One of the challenges will be to contact voters with disabilities to inform them of this ne

Procedure and House Affairs committee  For the pilot project per say, we have a budget of $25,000. That is for equipment and technical support. We are expecting to spend as much as $50,000 for communications and community engagement activities.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  These costs will be part of our budget for the by-election.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would say it depends on the date of the election. The election has to be called on October 27, and I don't know when the polling day will be. Normally we have to report on a byelection by the end of the fiscal year. We would try to make it an appendix to the byelection report i

Procedure and House Affairs committee  After that I will be reporting to this committee. If it works well, I will be proposing a recommendation for changes to the legislation. And then we have to go through the whole legislative process, which may take a while. That's one aspect. The other aspect is that depending h

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know when the next election will take place--

Procedure and House Affairs committee  --but I'm saying we'll probably need nine to twelve months for the procurement process.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We got some feedback, but I just want to point out that the pilot that's proposed here is not allowing electors to cast a ballot from another riding. They would still have to attend a site, either the RO site or their advanced poll site. The ballots would be where the poll of the

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It would be premature, but we'll have a meeting of all chief electoral officers later in November, and I think my colleague from New Brunswick will certainly debrief us on the experience of the recent general election. One thing I would also note also is that in New Brunswick th

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Equipment will be set up somewhere inside the polling station and voters will be offered an opportunity to use it, which will allow them to keep their vote secret. I just want to mention to the Committee, once again, that all the other forms of voter assistance will be available

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. There will be an operator on site who works for the company providing the device. He will be able to quickly resolve any issues that arise. There will also be election staff on site to direct voters.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Generally, quite positive. We had observers at both the provincial election and municipal election to see how this equipment worked, and how the process around it also functioned. Again, the experience has been positive enough in the pilot in New Brunswick that the act was amend

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm really pleased to be here today to discuss two topics: first, regarding a voting device that would allow disabled electors to cast ballots autonomously and secretly; and secondly, my report of recommendations following the last election. With me today a