Speaker Series

Upcoming Talks

Understanding Attitudinal and Emotional Responses Towards Eliminating Paper Voting in Favour of Internet Voting

Speakers: Michael McGregor (Toronto Metropolitan University) and Scott Pruysers (Dalhousie University)

Date: Wednesday March 11, 2026 at 9:00am to 10:00am (MT)/11:00am to 12:00pm (ET)

About the Talk: Nearly all municipalities in Nova Scotia allow residents to vote remotely via the internet and telephone, and in many cases traditional in-person paper voting is being phased out. This paper examines attitudes and emotional reactions toward the adoption of remote voting and the elimination of paper ballots, using data from an original two-wave survey of electors (N = 1,200) fielded in fall 2024. The survey measures support for different voting methods and includes an experiment assessing emotional responses to these changes (enthusiasm, anxiety, and aversion; Marcus et al. 2017). Results show strong public opposition to eliminating in-person paper voting. The experiment further indicates that removing the paper option increases anxiety, while offering both in-person and remote voting increases enthusiasm and reduces aversion. These findings suggest that municipalities should exercise caution when replacing paper ballots with remote voting systems.

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Shifting to Transit: The Determinants of Mode-Switching Intentions Among Canadian Car Commuters

Speakers: Martin Horak (Western University)  and Aaron Moore (University of Winnipeg)

Co-authors: Orly Linovski (University of Manitoba), Dave Armstrong (Western University), and Jérémy Gilbert (Western University)

Date: Friday March 27, 2026 at 11:00am to 12:00am (MT)/1:00m to 2:00pm (ET)

About the Talk: Drawing on increased intergovernmental support, local governments in many Canadian cities have recently built substantial new transit infrastructure. But there is limited research on the factors that influence whether new infrastructure attracts additional transit riders, particularly in the Canadian context. In this paper, we use a survey experiment involving over 2,000 car commuters across Canada to investigate the factors that influence the intentions of car commuters to switch to transit. While most existing research examines small geographic areas, ours draws on a national sample to understand how differences in existing transportation infrastructure and local contexts may impact potential mode shifts. With respect to the characteristics of transit itself, we find that reliability of service has the greatest impact on intention to switch, beating out cost, time savings, accessibility and comfort. We also leverage our national sample to explore the significance of lifestyle identity and local transit context. Among other things, we investigate whether car commuters who self-identify as ‘urban’ residents are more likely to switch to transit than those who self-identify as ‘suburban’ residents, and whether respondents living in places that already have higher-order transit are more likely to switch than those who live in places that only have bus service. Our results shed new light on how variations in lifestyle identity and existing transit systems shape the likelihood that new infrastructure will attract new riders.

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