PORT HAWKESBURY - Town officials here have approved a by-law to allow electronic voting and telephone voting in this fall's municipal elections, along with the traditional paper ballots. 

The town is now in the process of launching the contract it reached with the private firm TeleVote, following a unanimous vote at a special council meeting in June to provide e-voting and phone voting options for town residents. 

Port Hawkesbury's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Terry Doyle, confirmed in late July that a 12-day period will be set aside for voting by phone or by internet. This period will begin on October 6 and wrap up at 7 p.m. on October 18, just as the polls are set to close on the official election day. 

However, paper balloting will still be available in both advance polls and the election-day polls, which are slated to take place at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre's Bear Head Conference Centre. The CAO pointed out that the size of the Bear Head room, once of the largest sites available within the Civic Centre and the town itself, would accommodate all social-distancing restrictions placed on Nova Scotia residents and municipalities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Doyle also noted that Port Hawkesbury had been interested in experimenting with e-voting and phone voting well before news of the pandemic became public in early 2020. He added that the estimated price tag of $7,000 for these new options should not affect the town's ability to keep its overall election costs within the typical budget set out by the town in previous years.