Sarnia council is bringing back paper ballots for the 2022 municipal election after deciding not to offer them earlier this year.
In a 6-3 recorded vote Monday, council reversed its February decision and will make paper ballots available at an estimated $600,000 cost, in addition to online voting.
Acting City Clerk Amy Burkhart said most of the cost is tied to additional labour.
"The last time we had a paper ballot election was back in 2014," said Burkhart. "At that time we had seven full-time employees in the clerk's department, we also brought in two external election workers to help plan and prepare. For the election, we need to go out and locate accessible voting locations, we need to prepare supplies for the workers, we need to recruit them, train them."
The estimate is based on offering paper ballots at five locations and setting up additional help centers for those voting electronically.
Councillor Margaret Bird admitted the cost was a concern, but said she "fully supported" the hybrid method.
"The voters must feel that they can trust the election method and it's got to be as democratic and trustworthy as possible," said Bird.
Councillor Brian White changed his mind after receiving feedback from people who didn't vote in the last election.
"I have had correspondence with some people that were very respectful, and did illustrate some examples of situations where the electronic voting for themselves, and for members of their family, simply did not work, from an accessibility standpoint, from a mental health standpoint, from a brain injury standpoint," said White.
White suggested reducing costs further by only offering paper ballots at three locations, which Burkhart said would be considered if voting could still be fully accommodated on election day.
The number of tabulators needed remains unknown but they're estimated to cost $1,500 per unit.
Councillors Mike Stark, Terry Burrell and Nathan Colquhoun voted against paper ballots.