MPs reviewing virtual voting options to bolster COVID-19 Parliament

Virtual voting options are under review by the committee of MPs tasked with figuring out how to run Parliament in the COVID-19 era.

Speaker Anthony Rota told MPs today that virtual voting could be done using a special mobile app that would give MPs the option of voting from nearly anywhere.

MPs have been grappling since March with how they can fulfil their obligations when COVID-19 restrictions have largely precluded business as usual in the House of Commons.

Several compromises have been reached along the way, including a hybrid model that allows MPs to participate in person or virtually in debates or committee meetings.

But those debates and meetings have been limited in scope and the Opposition Conservatives have pressed for a full return to business.

The Liberals have said one thing that would need to be sorted out, however, is virtual voting to limit the risk of COVID-19 transmission among hundreds of MPs who would otherwise pack the Commons chamber.