THUNDER BAY — If there's a tight race in a Northwestern Ontario riding in Monday's federal election, the winner of that riding may not be declared until later in the week.
That's because the tabulation of mail-in ballots won't start until Tuesday, and the process could be somewhat time-consuming.
A substantial number of voters chose Elections Canada's special ballot option which allowed them to vote early and mail their selection.
In Thunder Bay - Rainy River, where the Liberal, Conservative and NDP candidates finished within approximately 2,600 votes of each other in the 2019 election, there are 1,870 mail-in ballots.
In Thunder Bay - Superior North, where the winning margin for the Liberals was about 7,000 votes over the Conservatives in 2019, there are 2,314 mail-in ballots.
In the Kenora riding, the Liberal, Conservative and NDP candidates came within about 1,600 votes of each other in 2019.
Elections Canada has said the counting of the mail-in ballots will be done within two days in most locations, but could take up to five days in others.
These ballots must first be hand-checked against in-person votes to ensure no one has voted twice.
