There will be no internet voting in the next municipal elections, in November 2025. Élections Québec, which had announced a pilot project using this technology in 21 municipalities, including Montreal and Laval, has just canceled it.
“The three companies which responded to the call for tenders aimed at acquiring an internet voting solution were not able to meet the needs of the institution. The call for tenders launched in October 2023 has therefore just been canceled,” explained the organization in a press release issued Thursday morning.
This pilot project aimed to evaluate the relevance of introducing internet voting on a large scale in Quebec to facilitate participation in elections, after a study carried out in 2020. For this first test, only the electorate of a or a few districts or arrondissements of each participating city could have voted online.
In total, up to 300,000 people could have voted online in the 2025 elections. All the usual ways of voting would have been maintained.
In its call for tenders, Élections Québec notably required that suppliers have participated in voting experiments during numerous major elections. They also had to have ISO 27 001 certification, an international safety standard that includes more than 90 controls. The internet voting solution had to pass test benches and security audits carried out by independent firms before being selected and after signing the contract.
“Our demands were high, but my team and I remain convinced of their merits. We are disappointed to put an end to the project, obviously, but there was no question of making compromises to hold this first test of internet voting,” indicated the Director General of Elections, Jean-François Blanchet, in the press release. .
“I thank the cities which agreed to take part in this first trial. This work stoppage demonstrates my respect for the trust they placed in me by participating in this project and my commitment to the integrity of the elections,” he added.
The municipalities that agreed to participate in the project are Alma, Baie-Comeau, Beloeil, Drummondville, Gatineau, Granby, Joliette, Laval, Lévis, Magog, Mirabel, Montréal, Québec, Rimouski, Rouyn-Noranda, Sainte-Julie, Saint- Georges, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Saint-Lazare, Terrebonne and Trois-Rivières.