Madam Chair, I think there are two separate issues here that are related, certainly in their solution.
The first issue is that until day six in every election, people in hospitals can be visited, because in a hospital setting you will have people from different electoral districts being visited and served by a mobile poll using special ballots. The special ballots stop on what we call “day six”, which is six days before the election, because we need to mark the lists that are used on polling day to make sure that people do not vote twice.
If we introduce electronic lists and thereby have the ability to strike an elector electronically, we can reduce that time to almost nothing—to a few days at worst—and allow people in hospitals who are hurt or injured just days before the election to vote, and then strike their names electronically. We would still need some time to produce the lists, but we could reduce the risk therein and reduce the number of days.
In terms of voting anywhere in the electoral district, Madam Chair, again this is something that in the longer term could be done through electronic lists. It is done in some jurisdictions. I'm not aware of its impact on increased participation, but it's certainly convenient for many electors.