Residents of Manitoba’s smallest communities should double-check their voter’s card to be sure of where to vote Oct. 19.
Elgin resident Bob Miller first only glanced at his when it arrived in the mail recently, irked that his name was spelled wrong. He did a double take when he saw he can’t vote in his hometown anymore.
He’ll now have to cast his ballot 15 minutes away in nearby Minto.
It’s the first time he can remember not being able to vote in Elgin, and that’s upset Miller who says there was no word Elgin would not have a local poll during the federal election.
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“Why would they take away our right to vote in our own community?” said Miller, who is also an RM of Grassland councillor. “It’s like herding a bunch of cattle down the road to the next town and expecting it’s all right with everyone. It isn’t.”
A spokesperson for Elections Canada said she did not know how widespread the redistribution of polls is in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
“I can’t tell you how many, but there are certainly changes,” said Marie-France Kenny, regional media adviser for Elections Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, an area encompassing about 20,000 polls.
Poll sites can and do change after reviews of population levels, as well as the site’s availability and accessibility for those with mobility challenges, she said. Federal law requires that all electoral districts be reviewed every 10 years and these reviews are done by commissions in each province. The process affecting poll sites in this year’s federal election began in 2012.
“There’s changes every election,” said Kenny. “But there are more now because of the redistribution of the electoral map.”
Kenny said those who do not or cannot vote at a poll outside their community can contact their local returning officer and arrange to vote by mail.
(That request must be made by Oct. 13 at 5 p.m. CT by contacting the local returning officer. Locations for nearest offices can be found by logging on to elections.ca and entering a postal code.)
Miller, however, said it’s maddening to be told to vote by mail when they don’t have a post office anymore either.
“It was taken away too. We just have those boxes lined up now. All these things are being taken out of our small communities.”
