Citizens can vote via a new site called Electorhood, which uses software from Montreal-based Simply Voting. Polls open for the territory’s general election on October 1. (CBC)

Talking point: Nicole Latour, the N.W.T.’s chief electoral officer, said the move is meant to increase turnout, especially for voters aged 18 to 35, only 20 per cent of whom voted in N.W.T.’s 2015 territorial election—the lowest rate of any age group, and less than half of the overall rate of 44 per cent. While the N.W.T. is the first to use the technology in a general election, Prince Edward Island used Simply Voting for a referendum in 2016. Though it saw a good turnout—of those who participated, over 80 per cent voted online—auditors flagged security risks and the province didn’t use the technology in its general election this year. Simply Voting’s president, Brian Lack, has recommended against using the platform in the upcoming federal election, saying its higher stakes make it a more likely target for illegal intervention. But for smaller ones, like the N.W.T.’s, the platform has been successful: it’s already been used in hundreds of municipal, Indigenous, union and university elections.