It’s election day in Canada.
Polls in the Kenora district are now open and will close at 8:30 pm tonight.
Elections Canada spokesperson Rejean Gauthier says they will follow local public health guidelines.
“When you go to your polling station, all the people in there will have to wear a mask, and some of them who deal with the public a lot more may even have a face shield or be behind plexiglass,” says Gautier.
Voters will also have to wear a mask when entering the polling station.
Elections Canada is expecting 1.2 million mail-in ballots this election.
Those will not be counted until Tuesday, so a clear winner may not be decided tonight.
Gauthier says they will be two separate counts of the ballots taking place.
“First of all, they’re going to count the votes that have come in on advance polls and on Election Day. Then the next day, they’re going to start counting the mail-in ballots. There is a reason for that. We want to ensure that people didn’t vote twice.”
Gauthier says they can do that by comparing the mail-in list with the one at polling stations.
More than 5,400 mail-in ballots are coming from northwestern Ontario.
The Kenora riding is reporting almost 1,600 mail-in ballots.
More than 2,100 are from the riding of Thunder Bay-Superior North.
There are 1,700-from Thunder Bay-Rainy River.
Those who missed the deadline to get their mail-in ballot back to Elections Canada can still have it registered.
Gauthier says, “You can always bring it to your returning office, or you can actually bring it to your polling station. But remember, only to the polling station that is on your voter information card.”
Where you vote today is also found on your voter information card or by going to Elections Canada’s website.
A government-issued ID, the voter card or something else showing your name and address gets you a ballot.
You can still vote if you don’t have ID.
You will have to declare your identity at the polling station with someone who knows you and votes at the same location.
