November 19, 2021, marked the end of the Citizen round table’s second mandate. During this meeting, the members took a critical but constructive look at Élections Québec and put themselves in the Chief Electoral Officer’s shoes to reflect on high-priority projects to improve certain aspects of elections in Québec.
Having a look at Élections Québec
Members believe that neutrality and concrete actions to improve access to voting are some of Élections Québec’s great strengths. However, they believe that the institution suffers from a lack of positive exposure between elections, has limited capacity to advance election processes, and lacks the agility to act quickly.
The members submitted several concrete possibilities for improvements to Élections Québec. For example, they want the institution to continue its educational efforts by taking a lead role in developing the content of a future course on democracy education in the school system. The institution should also have more of a presence in public dialogue.
In the Chief Electoral Officer’s shoes
Each member proposed priority projects to be carried out in the medium term. The majority adhered to three of them.
- Élections Québec 2.0
This project aims to create a space for experimentation to facilitate innovation in election processes. This space would first be used to test Internet voting to complete the study.
- Abolish polling subdivisions and computerize the process
The goal of this project is to improve the confidentiality of results by abolishing polling subdivisions. Computerizing the entire election process would allow electors to vote at any polling station, thus improving the speed and experience of voting.
- Democracy needs you!
This project aims to:- Conduct studies on who does and does not vote in Québec, identify these groups and find ways to encourage non-voters to vote.
- Increase the political and voter turnout for 16-25-year-olds.
- Create a course about citizenship that is open to everyone – a short virtual or in-person course, for people from all backgrounds.
- Explore ways to make electors feel more connected to the people who represent them and more engaged in politics.
To read all the opinions, recommendations and reflections of members, please refer to the full (in French only) or abridged version of the meeting minutes.
