It’s the same mistake that comes in the mail every election.
“My mother-in-law has been dead for 14 years and we're still getting a voter’s registration for her,” says Randall Coles.
Coles says he’s tried to notify staff at the election polls, but the mistake is never corrected.
Catherine Bergeron, Manager of Ottawa Elections, isn’t surprised. She says the voters list they receive on July 31 is the worst she’s ever seen.
“We estimate it’s about 7,000 returns that have come back so far,” says Bergeron.
“The comment we get, ‘If you can’t get the list right how do we know you can get the election right?’” she says. “This is not our product. This is a product of MPAC.”
The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation supplies cities with their voter lists, but says it is not fully its responsibility to make sure all of the information is up to date.
Arthur Anderson, Director of Municipal Relations at MPAC, writes:
“MPAC is not an elections agency. MPAC is responsible for preparing the Preliminary List of Electors – each municipality is responsible for finalizing the Voters’ List based on the most up-to-date information.”
“MPAC is committed to providing the highest level of service to municipalities and the people of Ontario. We take concerns raised by municipalities and taxpayers seriously. We have been speaking with local election officials and taxpayers in the City of Ottawa, and are actively working to address all issues brought forward. We want to get it right.”
Bergeron says even when she’s sent corrections back to MPAC, she’s often seen the same mistakes four years later when the next election comes around.
She says her team is taking it upon themselves to make as many corrections as possible.
Coles says he only hopes his late mother-in-law is left off the voters list, next election.
“We sort of naturally assumed that with a death certificate these things are taken care of, but it would seem it’s not,” he says.
With a report from CTV’s John Hua
