Manitoba introducing vote-counting machines for provincial election

Manitoba is introducing some technological changes for the upcoming provincial election, which will help reduce lineups and get faster results.

On Wednesday, Elections Manitoba announced this year’s provincial election will include the following tools at both advance and election day polls:

• Laptops with secure access to the voters list;
• Scanners for voter information cards;
• Printers for printing ballots on demand instead of write-in ballots for advance voting; and
• Vote-counting machines to scan and record ballots.

Elections Manitoba explained that once polls close, the vote-counting machines will create summary results for election day polls. This will show the number of votes for each candidate, the number of rejected ballots, the number of declined ballots, and the total number of ballots cast. Once this information is verified, the results will be entered into Election’s Manitoba’s secure system.

Advance voting memory cards from the vote-counting machines will be retrieved and the results will be entered into the reporting system.

Elections Manitoba expects that the majority of Manitobans will cast ballots at a location with a vote-counting machine. During advance voting, Manitobans can vote anywhere in the province. On election day, residents can vote anywhere in their electoral division.

Other than the new technology, the voting process remains the same in Manitoba, with voters showing their ID and marking a paper ballot. Voting will remain safe, secure, secret and anonymous.

 

The Manitoba provincial election is scheduled to take place on Oct. 3, 2023.