THUNDER BAY — Returning officers for both Thunder Bay-area ridings reported a brisk, steady pace as voters arrived in polling stations throughout the Thunder Bay-Superior North and Thunder Bay-Rainy River constituencies Monday.
Dale Mason, the returning officer in TB-SN, said staff had told him there was "nothing like big lineups, but fairly steady traffic."
Mason said if history repeats itself, the pace will pick up starting around 5 p.m. and continue for the next several hours.
"Sometimes, at the very end, there are people who rush in" to vote, Mason noted.
There are about 66,000 eligible voters in the riding.
In Thunder Bay-Rainy River, returning officer Kevin O'Donnell said "it's been pretty steady, from what we are hearing."
The riding has just under 66,000 electors.
"The turnout has usually been in the 60 per cent range. I hope we're going to get higher than that, especially based on the high numbers at the advance polls," O'Donnell said.
Polls in both ridings close at 9:30 p.m. local time, which will delay results in Thunder Bay-Rainy River until voting concludes at 9:30 p.m. CDT.
Voters who choose to cast their ballots later in the day may have to deal with a downpour of rain.
Environment Canada is forecasting rainfall totalling 30 to 50 millimetres on Monday evening, starting around 5 p.m. and terminating around 10 p.m.
It will be windy as well, with gusts from the east up to 50 kilometres per hour.
Tbnewswatch.com will post and continuously update the election results from across Northwestern Ontario as they are made available on Monday evening.
