In what circumstances will a voting machine fail to return or stack a ballot with an under or over vote?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from Herbert Goldie v. The Corporation of the Township of Brock, et al.,, 2010 ONSC 6930 (CanLII):
In Di Biase v. Vaughan (City), supra, the votes were cast in person. The voting machine was not programmed to “return” or “out-stack” a ballot with an under or over-vote. At paras. 27-28, Howden J. said: 27 For an underdetermined number of the 1,656 ballots not counted for mayors under- or over-votes, there are no doubt votes which are valid in law under the Municipal Elections Act and its regulation. The machine cannot read the intent of marks, only their spatial area. … 28 As to the under-votes, reliance merely on information from a supplier to determine the validity of a vote in a democratic process is simply unacceptable. In another city where over- and under-votes were returned for the voter's attention, fewer lost votes were experienced. Significantly fewer.
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