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Advance voter turnout hits approximately 10 per cent

Approximately 10,700 vote have already been cast in this year’s civic election, with city solicitor and clerk anticipating a new total of approximately 13,000 by the end of the day
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Approximately 10 per cent of the electorate has already cast ballots in this year’s civic election online or at advance paper ballot voting locations.

This equates to approximately 10,700 votes as of this morning, though city solicitor and clerk Eric Labelle anticipates a new total of approximately 13,000 by the end of the day. There are approximately 117,000 eligible voters in Greater Sudbury.

“I remember in 2018 electronic voting was brisk the first day, and then slowed down a little bit in subsequent days, but remained fairly consistent,” he said, adding that the same appears to be happening this time around.

“The first day, typically, you see a lot of people that are excited, wanting to get in and vote right away, but now it’s levelled off, and we’re seeing some fairly consistent numbers.”

The city doesn’t keep records regarding daily voter turnout, so he said it’s unclear how this year’s numbers compare to the 2018 election.

That said, Labelle noted that approximately 52 per cent of votes cast in 2018 (approximately 27,000) were submitted in advance of election day.

The 2018 election was entirely electronic, while this year’s election has included paper-ballot voting opportunities, including advance voting and on election day itself.

During the first of two advance paper ballot voting opportunities at three locations on Oct. 15, Labelle notes approximately 1,000 people cast their ballots.

Online voting began on Oct. 14, and continues until 8 p.m. on election day, Oct. 24. 

There’s one more advance paper-ballot voting opportunity from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 22, and then voting on election day itself, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 27 vote anywhere locations. As the name suggests, those eligible to vote are able to vote at any one of these locations, where paper ballots are printed off on demand.

The first advance paper ballot voting day on Oct. 15 went “fairly smooth,” Labelle said.

“There are always small hiccups where you might get a printer that’s not printing properly first thing in the morning, or it’s not hooked up right … but certainly not anything that would prevent voting.”

The system has “quite a bit of redundancy” to ensure there are adequate backups in place in the event something goes wrong, he said. 

“Sometimes the staff outnumber voters in the location because we want the process to be smooth for voters and for them to not have to wait too long in order to vote.”

The city’s push will continue to be for people to vote in advance of election day, Labelle said. 

“I’d like to see higher numbers, I think the more we can encourage people to vote now, earlier, the better, and get the ballots in and avoid any rush on election day is ideal,” he said, adding this is particularly important for those who have errors in their information.

For those with errors in their voter registration information or who have not received their voter identification letters in the mail with the code required to vote online, they can get one through any Citizen Service Centre or municipal library, which have been set up as Voter Registration Centres. Valid identification is required.

Sudbury.com’s ongoing election coverage has been compiled on a municipal elections page, which can be accessed by clicking here.

Everything voters need to know about the mechanics of voting in the City of Greater Sudbury can be found by visiting the city’s website by clicking here.

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com


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Tyler Clarke

About the Author: Tyler Clarke

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
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