The Election Team received a complaint that raised a theoretical concern regarding the integrity of ONA’s voting system in its recent Provincial Board By-Election.

Specifically, the complaint raised a concern that ONA Central has “full or partial control” over critical elements of the election process, such that the election or voting process may be lacking in integrity and/or fairness.

The Election Team has decided to dismiss the complaint. There is no evidence of any irregularities in ONA’s voting system. The election is run with integrity by arm’s length and reputable third party vendors, as detailed below.

However, for the benefit of the complainant and the ONA membership in general, the Election Team has determined that it is in the best interests of the membership to provide transparency on both its oversight role and its high level of confidence in ONA’s secure and confidential electronic voting system.

The Election Team conducted an investigation into and reviewed the processes adopted for confidential online voting. As a result of this investigation, the Election Team is fully satisfied that the electronic secret ballot system is run with integrity and transparency and at arm’s length from ONA at all critical junctures.

Overview of ONA Election Process

ONA presently works with two reputable vendors that support ONA to run clean and fair elections: Simply Voting and Thistle Printing.

As part of the process, Simply Voting independently generates voter pins for ONA members with entitlements to vote.

The membership list itself is verified with a variety of quality assurance processes, in collaboration with both ONA Dues and Membership and ONA’s Information Technology (IT) Services Department. For example, the member list contains the member’s name, region, address, ONA ID (also utilized as a voter ID) and a unique mail code.

ONA has no control over Simply Voting’s arm’s length processes and voting is hosted exclusively by Simply Voting on its secure external site. The process is run with integrity through this third party platform that meets stringent security requirements. Some key elements of this secure system are set out below:

• ONA’s IT Development Team utilizes an established programmed code to create the voter list. This list is then provided to the Dues and Membership Services Team for an independent quality assurance review. Once the voter list has passed ONA’s internal quality assurance processes, the list is then directed to Simply Voting.
• Voting Pins are created by Simply Voting at arm’s length from ONA. In order to vote, entitled members require their member ID and a voter pin. No additional voter IDs are generated. The Voter Pin is generated exclusively by Simply Voting. Simply Voting does not share Voter Pin information with ONA.
• ONA does not mail voter ballots. Thistle Printing mails member voting instruction letters to members that include the necessary information for them to vote (i.e. their ONA ID and a voting pin generated by Simply Voting). Data is securely transmitted between Simply Voting and Thistle. ONA is not involved in this step.
• No ballots are created by ONA. The only ballot is on the Simply Voting website. Simply Voting populates the online ballot with the information contained in the Ticket of Nominations (e.g. name of candidate, position for election). A sample ballot is reviewed and approved by the Senior Technology Officer for accuracy to ensure the ballot accurately captures the candidates’ names in alphabetical order by last name, as per ONA’s policy.
• The voting website and its systems are the sole property of Simply Voting. Simply Voting does not have a licensing model that allows other organizations to host or run their own version of their software; they are a third-party vendor which provides full service to ONA. The Simply Voting platform is within the sole control of Simply Voting and is their exclusive property. ONA staff do not have access to any information on this site, except to monitor that voting is occurring (i.e. number of votes cast per region), and to enable ONA to provide voting information to members who did not receive or have lost their voting packages; this is done via an email feature that does not reveal secure pins to the sender.
• All activities within the Simply Voting platform are audited and logged. These logs cannot be accessed or modified by ONA. ONA’s Senior Technology Officer is the only employee at ONA who has access to these reports; he monitors the number of ballots cast as a quality assurance test to ensure that the letters have been delivered to all regions and the system is working.
• Simply Voting reports, via a signed letter by their President, on the election results and verifies that the election results are securely processed and accurately tabulated. Simply Voting’s process ensures that votes cast (i.e. how people vote) remain anonymous.
• Simply Voting’s security measures are designed to prevent against both electoral fraud and breach of secrecy. According to Simply Voting, its site is subject to rigid security systems to protect against security or cyber attacks and its internal voting system must pass an internal security review before going live. Simply Voting’s process includes a rigorous check of ballots and its security system guarantees “one-vote-per-voter.” Even if a voter submits the ballot simultaneously on several devices, Simply Voting’s technology and security features guarantee that only one vote is accepted. Further, voters who by-pass authentication or who have already voted are denied access to the ballot.

In summary, there are a number of quality assurance mechanisms deployed internally by ONA and externally by its qualified third party vendors, Simply Voting and Thistle Printing, to ensure a fair, secure and confidential election.

The Election Team is entirely confident in the integrity, security and fairness of ONA’s rigorous election processes. The Election Team trusts and hopes the membership is likewise reassured as to the integrity of the voting process and has elected to publish the above noted details for the benefit of the ONA membership as a whole.

Sincerely,
Vicki McKenna, Chair
ONA’s Election Team