Winnipeg city councillors could soon face greater accountability and scrutiny in how they vote on everything from small community grants to multi-million dollar infrastructure projects with the introduction of electronic voting.

The public service is nearly finished fine-tuning a digital system that will record, in real time, how councillors vote on committees and on council, Winnipeg's innovation committee heard Monday.

"I think the electronic voting will be good because it will help constituents understand better how councillors are supporting or not supporting issues," said Coun. Janice Lukes (Waverley West) Monday following the innovation committee meeting.

"It makes you be more on top of every file."

Cities like Toronto and Edmonton already have digital systems that keep track of how council members vote.

In Winnipeg, councillors vote by standing and sitting or saying "yea" and "nay." There's no quick and easy way to review how councillors voted after the fact unless a recorded vote is called. In many cases, followers of city hall matters have to watch a video of the meeting to find out voting results.

Electronic voting promises to change that.

Glen Cottick, Winnipeg's acting chief innovation officer, said the new digital voting system is nearly finished. A prototype has already been completed and tested and the final product is less than three months away from completion, he said. It's unclear how long it will take to fully implement; however, he said.

One of the challenges of any new system is ensuring the results are accurate and timely.

"Right now votes flow fairly organically and seamlessly …There's no technical challenges in the recording of the votes," said Cottick.

The city clerks department wants to ensure the new voting system does not bog down meetings, said Cottick.

Administration also wants to make sure the live results easily flow into the city's Winnipeg's Decision Making Information System, the database where minutes and agenda items, and other city hall information are available to read.

Coun. Shawn Nason, who along with Lukes are often critics of Mayor Brian Bowman, predicts the electronic voting will change how some council members vote.

He thinks strategic "pre-meetings" will happen more often — because councillors will no longer be able to take cues on how to vote by watching who sits and who stands when a controversial issue comes up at city council.

"It may need to require some additional consultation if there are certain matters before council," he said.

A 2018 analysis of recorded votes at city council showed under Bowman's previous term, members of his inner circle, the executive policy committee, voted with him 94 per cent of the time.