Vote at polls during less busy times to avoid lineups on election day this coming Monday, Elections Canada is recommending.
Less staffing than usual and COVID-19 precautions could cause delays on Sept. 20, even though there has been increased advance voting and use of mail-in ballots.
A best bet to reduce time at the polls would be to avoid the usual busiest times for voting: the morning before work hours, lunchtime, and the hours after daytime work, said Elections Canada spokeswoman Andrea Marantz.
Marantz said is it is difficult to say exactly what the turnout will be on election day.
“We can’t accurately predict it. … And there are always rush times during polling day. It’s an absolute given,” she said. “So if you need to go at one of those times, then definitely you can expect a line as you would at any election — and they will likely look longer because of the social distancing.”
Across the country, there has been a larger advance turnout than in the past — more than 5.7 million votes cast, 18 per cent higher than in the 2019 federal election.
Of those advance votes, more than 804,000 were cast in British Columbia.
There has also been a significant number of mail-in ballots requested, at more than one million.
Marantz acknowledged it has been a challenge hiring poll workers during the pandemic.
Elections Canada says on a national average, it has a little more than 80 per cent of the staffing it normally would, which could vary from poll to poll.
That is, in part, because some people who have worked at polls in the past have been reluctant to do so because of the pandemic.
For example, Judy Cowe, 71, scrapped her plan to work at a polling station after learning Elections Canada will not require election workers to be vaccinated. The North Vancouver woman said she did not want to be in a room for 12 hours with people who aren’t vaccinated.
