You bank online; you shop online; this fall, get ready to vote online.
The City of Vancouver has approved online voting as an option for advance polls in the upcoming November municipal election.
It's the latest in a string of municipalities across the country who have tried opening up the polls online, including Halifax, Markham and Peterborough, Ontario.
Vancouver city councillor Andrea Reimer supports the move. She thinks making voting easier could increase voter turnout.
"Elections Canada has asked people, ‘why didn't you vote?' and people say, 'I meant to but I just didn't get there that day,'" she said.
"You're gonna get home at some point in the day or near a computer, so this is an opportunity of a far greater level of access."
In Markham, Ontario's 2010 municipal election, online voting accounted for 23 per cent of ballots cast. For Vancouverites, it could mean avoiding rain-soaked poll lines.
But not everyone's on board.
NPA councillor Suzanne Anton said she respects the attempt to modernize, but can't support the movement.
"I think that Vancouver voters should be wary of this proposal given the lack of public consultation and the inherent risks in such a system."
The subject of digital media and elections is certainly on the minds of Canadians following Monday's federal election.
The vote saw tweeters violating what many are calling an archaic Elections Canada law that prohibits announcing results before polls across the country have closed.
Using the hashtag #TweetTheResults, the social media mob found clever ways around the law, with some even assigning fruit code names to the various political parties in order to get their message out.
Vancouver's Alex Samuels created Tweet the Results, a website to aggregate all the potentially law-breaking tweets coming out on election day. She thinks the current election laws surrounding release of results are outdated.
"It's incumbent on our legislators to update our laws so our traditional media can at least keep up with what's going on online," she said.
University of British Columbia social media expert Alfred Hermida agrees.
"The idea of trying to control what people might hear in one part of the country in another part of the country is an anachronism given the media system we have now," he said.
