Voter lists have long been provided to registered candidates in elections at all levels of government. Candidates have to affirm they will only use the information for campaign purposes and there can be significant penalties for misuse of voter lists..Those voters lists are often, unfortunately, misused by some unprincipled candidates for everything from telemarketing to campaigning during non-election periods. While these abuses are not to be disregarded, they tend to be mere annoyances in most cases..That has changed with the prospect controversial Calgary mayoral candidate Kevin J. Johnston may get access to electors lists..While every candidate – including fringe candidates – has received the electors lists in the past without issue, Johnston is presenting a new problem. He has openly vowed to track down AHS employees and make an armed visit to their homes. This may just be Johnston’s usual hyperbolic online ranting, but it cannot be easily dismissed..Johnston’s history shows him to be a very troubled individual who could very possibly be dangerous. He is facing multiple charges right now in different provinces, including assault. He has been known for targeted harassment of individuals on a racial basis. In Ontario he harassed and defamed a restaurant owner so badly that an Ontario court awarded the restaurant owner $2.5 million in a suit against Johnston. That kind of settlement is extraordinarily rare in Canada..In light of his history, how comfortable should we be with the likes of Johnston having access to the address and phone numbers of everybody in your household? Unless things change, that’s exactly what will happen this fall..This developing issue has many concerned. Most people didn’t even realize that candidates for office had access to these lists, and they are beginning to ask why candidates have access to such information in the first place..There are three reasons candidates get access to voters lists..One is they are very valuable tools for campaigning..The second is that by providing challengers with the list, it evens the playing field with incumbents and well-funded candidates who have their own database..The third and more important reason is that giving candidates access to these lists offers a layer of protection against electoral fraud..In our electoral system, the candidates themselves actually offer the best oversight and scrutiny in order to ensure there has been no abuse of the process. Every candidate is allowed to have scrutineers who represent them during every aspect of the voting process from ensuring the ballot boxes are empty before being used, to ensuring that nobody is trying to influence electors in polling places to being present during the counting of the ballots. In giving access to the process for every candidate, the system has a very good internal checking method that actually doesn’t cost taxpayers any money..Part of that access to the process includes giving candidates the list of electors. If candidates didn’t have voters lists, how could they ensure that a person wasn’t registered to vote multiple times? How could it be discovered if one household somehow had 50 registered voters within it? Would it ever be caught if a deceased person had somehow cast a ballot? While uncommon, these kinds of things have happened before in elections around the world – or inner party nomination races here – and tha’is why modern election systems give candidates the means to watch for these kinds of abuses..Mayoral candidate Jyoti Gondek has been requesting the practice of sharing electoral lists with candidates be ended for everyone. There’s merit to considering this, but it has to be understood in doing so with such relatively short notice, this will come at a cost..Checks and balances can be created that would help candidates ensure the integrity of the electoral process without actually giving the candidates full access to the lists of electors. That sort of policy would take time to formulate, and there is no way such a policy could be in place in time for an election this fall. That would mean if electoral lists were not given to candidates this year, we would be losing that layer of protection in the process. This would unlikely make much difference to outcomes, but you can rest assured many people would use this as an excuse to question the process and the outcomes of the election..Another consequence of the removal of access to electoral lists to candidates would be it would add to the already formidable advantage held by incumbent or major candidates. In municipal politics, incumbents already have massive fundraising and name recognition advantages over challenging candidates. While they will never admit it, you can rest assured incumbents still have copies of the electoral lists from past elections. While the data would be four years out of date, it would still be very valuable to the campaign. It defies belief no candidates would use those lists in the coming campaign while up-and-coming candidates are forced to build their own databases through manual door knocking. Coun. Gondek is well aware of this..In all probability, Gondek, Farkas, and perhaps a few other more established candidates already have access to an older list. Freezing candidates out of obtaining the list would provide the big candidates with a huge, unfair advantage..It’s worth considering ending the practice of sharing this information with candidates in the future. I know I wouldn’t want my personal information going to an individual such as Kevin Johnston, along with a number of the other candidates in the race for that matter. We have to remember, however, changing the policy on the fly like this will have an impact on the ability of many to campaign and it will reduce electoral scrutiny this fall..One potential option would be moving for a court injunction against candidates – like Johnston – that have clearly signalled their willingness or intent to abuse the information found in the electors list. No city bureaucrat could be trusted with a delicate decision like this, but if it can be sufficiently proven in court, it should be fair enough..Our political environment is far too charged right now for any nuanced policy debates to happen. Particularly in Calgary, where the mayor has been race-baiting and sowing division among the public and other elected officials. It’s clear we will have to address this issue of the privacy and safety of the electorate..The only question right now is when..Cory Morgan is the Alberta Political Columnist for the Western Standard and Host of the Cory Morgan Show
