Auditor General releases recommendations from Elections Administration Audit

HAMILTON, ON - Today, the Auditor General presented findings from the Elections Administration Audit to the City of Hamilton’s General Issues Committee. 

The purpose of the Council-directed Audit (AUD23008) was to review and assess the adequacy and effectiveness of systems, resources, agreements, policies and 
procedures in place to administer the 2022 election cycle, including various processes related to logistics, communications, planning and preparations. The City of Hamilton’s compliance with the provisions of the Municipal Elections Act (“the Act”) was also assessed. 

Overall the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) found that the Office of the City Clerk’s processes substantially complied with requirements under the Act. The OAG found some compliance issues related to voting hours, voter lists and notification. However, these deviations did not compromise in any material way the seven generally accepted election principles that engender confidentiality of voting, absence of bias, voter accessibility, integrity, certainty and accuracy of results, and fair and consistent treatment of voters and candidates.

The OAG made 50 recommendations to the Clerk for consideration in the next election. These recommendations would strengthen compliance, improve process efficiency and effectiveness, enhance the candidate and voter experience, and identifies areas where the City can advocate to the Province of Ontario.

Recommendations from the Elections Administration Audit were grouped under the following five themes, including key recommendations for each: 

Voter/resident experience

• Establish and abide by a service standard for the response time in turning around Vote by Mail applications to vote by mail packages being mailed out
• Consider a home visit vote program for accessibility purposes

Candidate experience

• Consider a service model that offers more dedicated resources to candidates to achieve a higher degree of responsiveness to candidate questions and concerns
• Develop guidelines and information tools to assist candidates in understanding the application of the requirement that they may not use City facilities or property for campaign events unless rented or booked

Election preparation and readiness

• Improve staff training to ensure there is adherence to standard operating procedures and staff can effectively activate contingency procedures/backup processes 
• Initiate the procurement process earlier in the election cycle

Technology

• Ensure City of Hamilton IT Security prepares and reviews the technical specifications when the City’s Elections management is procuring technology services
• Develop more robust contingency plans and processes for the loss or interruption of election technology functionality, particularly with respect to when and how to switch to manual backup procedures

Advocacy to the Province Ontario

• Advocate to the Province that Voting Day be held on a day when schools are not in session in order to address concerns about public entry into schools when students are in attendance
• Advocate to the Province to provide clarity and guidance regarding when declarations of emergency should be made by a Clerk during municipal elections

City of Hamilton management is largely agreeable with the OAG’s audit findings and recommendations. Management requires more time to review the recommendations, including further discussion with the OAG, in order to coordinate complete action plans. By September 2023, management has committed to provide detailed responses to the OAG. These responses will then be brought forward to the General Issues Committee upon review and acceptance by the OAG.

Quick Facts

The audit was conducted in three parallel streams:

1. A review was completed, with the assistance of a municipal elections expert, of the key processes in place to administer the election, and compliance with the Act.
2. A review of technologies used in the election including tabulators, e-poll books, and related software to understand the implications of these services with respect to election efficiency, and risk management.
3. The final part of the audit consisted of two surveys - one of electors (a survey was conducted by telephone and had 600 respondents) and the other of candidates.