Easter weekend or not, voters in Thunder Bay are taking advantage of the federal election advance polls.
“The turnout has been fairly steady,” said Elections Canada returning officer Bill Everitt on Friday. “They all basically opened on time. There has been a little slow down at one or two, but basically they opened at 12 o’clock and seem to be moving quite smoothly now.”
It’s about what Everitt expected.
“When we talk about advance polls, locally, regionally and nationally, we probably are fairly typical, getting somewhere near 10 per cent of eligible voters who show up. People do it for a variety of reasons. They may not be available because they’re out of town. But oftentimes it’s people who are working for candidates who want to get in and vote early. Then they’re free to work on Election Day.”
Advance polls, open from noon until 8 p.m. on Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Monday, are a necessity to ensure everyone can exercise their democratic right to vote, Everitt said.
They were left with little choice on the dates, despite the holiday.
“It’s because of the Elections Canada Act. It’s legislation that states when the election is called and under normal conditions it’s a 36-day election. Certain things happen on each day within that 36-day period of time. It just so happens the advance polls fall within that timeframe.”
In the County Fair area, at least, there were plenty of people on Friday making sure their vote would be counted. Long lines formed, frustrating some voters, some of whom left without casting a ballot.
Most, however, gritted it out despite the wait.
There are a few things people can do to make the process run more smoothly. Everitt said first and foremost voters must know where they’re supposed to go.
“There may be a number of advance polls spread across the district, but you can only vote at the advance poll for which you’ve been determined. And that shows up on your voter information card,” he said. “They’re clustered, so there are about 20 normal polls that feed into an advance poll to give people that opportunity to vote.”
In addition to the normal advance poll people can vote at the returning office right up until 6 o’clock next Tuesday evening, Everitt said.
The local returning office has lined up about 700 paid volunteers to help run the election locally. Remuneration for working the polls is between $160 and $240. Across Canada it's expected the election will cost taxpayers about $300 million or more.
Everitt said they're still looking for a few more workers, just in case someone drops out.
“It’s quite a challenge to organize an election by Elections Canada or by any of the organizations that do elections. In this electoral district alone, we’ll hire somewhere around 700 to 750 individuals over the period of the election, the majority of whom will be working on Election Day, either as returning officers, poll clerks, information clerks or registration, a whole series of positions,” Everitt said. “We have the majority of the people we require now registered to work, but there still are opportunities in our standby positions.”
The federal election is scheduled for May 2.
