BY NICOLE J. GOODMAN, HELEN A. HAYES, R. MICHAEL MCGREGOR, SCOTT PRUYSERS, AND ZACHARY SPICER

McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024

In an attempt to reverse declining rates of voter participation, governments around the world are turning to electronic voting to improve the efficiency of vote counts, and increase the accessibility and equity of the voting process for electors who may face additional barriers. The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified this trend.

Voting Online focuses on Canada, where the technology has been widely embraced by municipal governments with one of the highest rates of use in the world. In the age of cyber elections, Canada is the only country where governments offer fully remote electronic elections and where traditional paper voting is eliminated for entire electorates. Municipalities are the laboratories of electoral modernization when it comes to digital voting reform. We know conspicuously little about the effects of these changes, particularly the elimination of paper ballots.

Relying on surveys of voters, non-voters, and candidates in twenty Ontario cities, and a survey of administrators across the province of Ontario, Voting Online provides a holistic view of electronic elections unavailable anywhere else.

EDS. NICOLE GOODMAN AND HELEN A. HAYES

University of Toronto Press, 2025

Is it possible to counter vulnerabilities and risks with the right regulation and approaches to governance? Or, by contrast, will such regulatory attempts further expose existing problems or perhaps create new ones? These questions have been top of mind for many as we navigate technological diffusion across all facets of our society.

This volume seeks to elucidate the complex nature and potential consequences of regulating digital technologies and data in Canada. By surveying Canada’s core digital and data domains, the volume investigates topics including the increasing use of technology in Canadian elections, the implications of digitization on Indigenous self-governance, and the use of digital technologies for government and corporate surveillance. It likewise considers the effects of mass data collection and commodification on user privacy and human rights, and the unprecedented growth of IP as a global asset. Finally, it demonstrates how emerging technologies, and the collection of information that they enable, raise unprecedented questions about Canadian governance approaches and the frameworks used to regulate them. 

EDS. HELEN A. HAYES AND R. MICHAEL MCGREGOR

McGill-Queen’s University Press, Expected 2026

Public trust in democracy is under strain. From the Capitol riots in the U.S. to inquiries into foreign interference in Canada, confidence in electoral institutions is faltering. At the same time, the use of remote voting—by mail, phone, and internet—is rapidly expanding, especially at the municipal level.

This volume examines how declining trust in democracy intersects with the rise of remote voting. As skepticism toward electoral institutions grows—both in Canada and globally—remote methods like internet voting are becoming more common, particularly at the municipal level. This project uses Nova Scotia’s 2024 municipal elections to study whether remote voting methods are trustworthy, whether electors perceive them as such, and how political actors influence these perceptions.

At stake is a vital question for Canadian democracy: can the public maintain faith in elections as voting technology evolves?