The Liberal Party and Canada Post insist the federal party’s leadership vote is a model of efficiency, but multiple people trying to cast their ballots say the process has been a nightmare to navigate.
Discontented party members have reached out to CBC News and taken to social media to voice complaints about the online system for registering voters and confirming their identity.
“It was an awful process,” said Toronto’s David Ferry. “When you do get one of those rare opportunities to make a difference by actually voting, and participating in the democratic process, it’s very frustrating when you can’t do it.”
Registered Liberals must get an electronic voter ID, then verify that ID online and confirm their identity using the Canada Post Identity+ app or in person at a participating post office. Once that is done, members can then cast their online vote.
But people attempting to follow that process are reporting problems, particularly with the mobile app and in-person option to verify their identity.
Ferry said that while he was able to download the app and cast his vote, his wife, Kyra Harper, has been unable to do so.
He said they couldn’t verify Harper’s identity using the app. Ferry said staff at their local post office were unable to help, and after sending multiple emails to the party and spending hours on the phone with Canada Post, Harper is still frozen out of the process, he said.
“My wife is very frustrated that she can’t vote,” Ferry said.
‘This is actually the system working,’ says Liberal Party
A spokesperson for the Liberal Party told CBC News that they could not comment on individual cases, but “this is actually the system working. If you’re not able to verify, there’s a reason you are not able to verify.
“We want to make sure that we are putting on a process that is secure and fair,” the spokesperson said.
The party says there are no widespread problems with the system, and it is addressing complaints. But the party said it takes time to ensure that each complainant’s identity is properly verified before they cast their ballot.
“The Liberal Party has created the most secure and accessible voting process in Canadian history for the 2025 leadership race,” the Liberal Party said in a statement.
- Did you have trouble voting in the Liberal leadership race? CBC News wants to hear from you about your issues at ask@cbc.ca
The spokesperson said that since voting started on Wednesday, more than 55,000 ballots have been cast out of the 79,000 Liberals who have been verified by the system.
Canada Post defended its identity verification app and in-person services, insisting the corporation “has a well-established suite of verification and authentication capabilities.”
“We continue to work closely with the Liberal Party of Canada and can confirm that Canada Post’s Identity+ suite of services has been working as intended and that there have been no issues since the service launched on Feb. 20,” Canada Post told CBC News by email.
Frustrations mounting
The Liberal Party posted links to its online voting instructions on its social media channels, encouraging Liberals to verify their eligibility and cast their ballots.
The replies on the party’s Facebook page and X account include multiple complaints from people who say they haven’t been able to navigate the system. Their frustrations are similar to the Liberals who have reached out to CBC News.
They have been unable to get an answer from the party’s support email address.
Don Robertson says he’s been trying to vote for days but has been unsuccessful. He says the mobile app accepted his driver’s license, but it did not accept his Nova Scotia health card as a secondary form of ID. He does not have a passport.
Robertson went into his local post office but says that the staff there were unable to help him.
He managed to finally get his identity verified through the party. But when he tried to vote online, the system told him that he was not a registered Liberal voter.
“I think it was overdone. I don’t think all that security was necessary,” Robertson said. “It could have been a much simpler operation.”
Jo Rogge, from Seguin, Ont., told CBC News he had a similar experience trying to verify his identity using the Canada Post app.
“I was able to put my driver’s license into the app and I sent it in, but I tried to participate in the vote and it wouldn’t let me go ahead,” he said.
Rogge said he sent multiple messages to the support email but said he only received automated responses in return.
“I started about five, six days ago and I’ve basically been sending one [email] a day and as of now I haven’t received anything,” he said.
Rogge said he went into the post office in nearby Parry Sound but staff there were unable to help.
CBC News reached out to all four Liberal leadership candidates to determine if they have heard from their supporters about trouble with the online voting system.
A spokesperson for leadership candidate Frank Baylis told CBC News that some of his supporters said they’re having trouble installing and using the Canada Post Identity+ app.
“Our campaign’s primary concern is that Liberal members in good standing have access to the voting process,” the Baylis campaign said in a statement.
“We have shared our concerns with the Liberal Party requesting that they address these challenges to ensure that members who are motivated to vote can do so,” the campaign said.
A senior official with one of the other three Liberal leadership campaigns told CBC News that 10 to 20 per cent of intended voters have reported issues with the process.
Registered Liberals told the campaign that the system has a poor user experience and that Canada Post has been ineffectual in helping people in-person, said the official who spoke on condition they were not identified.
The official also said the party is not responding to voter complaints made by phone.
