Reluctant to vote in city election

Dear editor: Several serious unresolved concerns make me reluctant to vote in Penticton.

1. The ballot counting machines are not audited by independent voters. Chief electoral officer Laurie Darcus told me that this council did not approve any manual counting after the election. This is shocking since, by their own statements, a 10 per cent independent audit would cost less than $500. This places the validity of our elections in question. There is no reasonable doubt that the machines can be tampered with and hacked. As an expert being interviewed on CBC said years ago: If the ballot machines can be compromised, they are being compromised.

2. Candidates for our city government do not present their credentials as completely as a job applicant for Tim Hortons would. However, the mayor and council control over $77 million this year. (That’s a pretty good reason to manipulate and hack voting machines, isn’t it?) Where are the candidates’ employment records, credit reports, character references, police records posted? Nowhere that I can find. There is no way for the voters to make intelligent hiring decisions within the current system of beauty pageants that we call “elections”.

3. The movement among governments to make laws compelling people to vote seems to me a clear indicator that they know the system is not trustworthy. We must be forced to participate so that elections will appear legitimate.

As things stand, voting seems to make me an accomplice in the corruption of government, and the potential robbing of our people. Jonathan Sevy Penticton