'It's all hands on deck': Elections Canada says it's ready for final day of voting

3 month_ago 44

New Brunswick·New

The last 12 hours of voting successful New Brunswick starts Monday astatine 8:30 a.m. AT. Elections Canada accidental it's acceptable for precocious elector turnout and is reminding displacement workers they're entitled to 3 consecutive hours disconnected to get to the polls.

Between noon and 4 p.m. is usually the slightest engaged clip to vote, says spokesperson

Rachel Cave · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 28, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 41 minutes ago

closeup of a lineup astatine an beforehand poll. Image is taken from down truthful faces are not visible.

Elections Canada says it's successful the concern of making it casual to ballot and the rules astir voting Monday are designed to support the integrity of the vote.

That includes emptying ballot boxes onto a array aboriginal contiguous and inspecting each ballot successful beforehand of designated observers, including candidates oregon their representatives.

As for resources, the fig of places to ballot contiguous is 4 times greater than what was unfastened during beforehand polling and galore much radical volition beryllium working.

"It's each hands connected deck," said Françoise Enguehard, the Atlantic media typical for Elections Canada.

Your past accidental to vote: Elections Canada says it each comes down to Monday

The past 12 hours for choosing the adjacent MPs from New Brunswick starts astatine 8:30 a.m. Monday. WATCH | Election time means quadruple the fig of polling stations, much unit connected the ground:

A record-breaking beforehand turnout of 7.3 cardinal voters sent a message.

"We've been working very hard to amended the work due to the fact that we cognize determination is rather an increase, by each indications, that determination are galore much radical engaged truthful we person to beryllium prepared for that," said Enguehard.

In summation to much polling places, wrong those locations, determination volition beryllium much polling stations, which means the database of electors associated with each station volition beryllium smaller.

While the polls are unfastened betwixt 8:30 and 8:30 p.m. AT, the quietest clip is usually noon to 4 p.m., said Enguehard, with a unreserved successful the aboriginal greeting and aft enactment until the polls close.

This is simply a banal photograph provided by Elections Canada showing an predetermination idiosyncratic receiving a insubstantial ballot from a voter.

The bully quality for stragglers standing successful enactment astatine 8:30 p.m. is they volition not beryllium denied.

"If you're the past 1 successful enactment earlier the doorway locks and you haven't voted, you volition vote. If it takes until 10 o'clock to process everybody, you volition vote," said Enguehard.

Elections Canada has hired immoderate 250,000 workers to assistance service astir 28 cardinal registered voters.

The lone mode to ballot contiguous is by going to your polling presumption successful your federal riding, said Enguehard.

This is simply a banal photograph provided by Elections Canada showing a elector successful a wheelchair casting his ballot astatine a array wherever an elections idiosyncratic is sitting.

By law, employers indispensable supply their workers with three consecutive hours to get to the polls.

People moving nine-to-five should person nary issue. They're disconnected astatine 5 p.m. and the polls are unfastened for different 3½ hours.

Wendy MacIntyre, a quality resources advisor successful P.E.I, said the regularisation protects radical moving shifts.

"If somebody's moving a 12-hour shift, they don't person capable clip to ballot extracurricular of those moving hours," she said. "Then the leader has to let them to person 3 hours, together, and it's paid."

She besides provided an illustration of idiosyncratic moving 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. They would request 30 minutes disconnected astatine the commencement of their displacement oregon 3 hours disconnected the extremity of their shift, and it's up to the leader to decide.

A closeup representation of an unidentified elections idiosyncratic handling a registered elector sheet. The representation was provided by Elections Canada for illustration

In different countries, elections workers person faced scrutiny, disapproval and harassment and Enguehard is alert of immoderate of the suspicions circulating successful Canada.

She's heard radical question the pencils, wondering if their votes tin beryllium altered oregon erased.

If voters privation to bring their ain pens they can, but the proviso of those pencils is written into the law.

"Each voting compartment shall beryllium placed connected a hard and creaseless aboveground and shall person successful it a suitable achromatic pb pencil for the usage of electors successful marking their ballots," states Canada's Elections Act.

Counting process

After the ballots are counted, they are placed wrong sealed envelopes, signed and stored astatine the Elections Canada bureau and aft the predetermination results are official, the canvass bags are stored for 10 years.

"I don't cognize that you tin telephone it archaic," said Enguehard. "It's a accepted mode of voting and it's a mode that has proven to beryllium reliable and highly safe.

"Sometimes I person the feeling that radical deliberation that we person rules truthful we tin disenfranchise immoderate people. But no, we enactment highly hard astatine making definite ... that radical person the champion information, that they cognize what to do."