Election official urges proxy voting in Cumberland byelection

Ottawa's election officials have a message for any voters in Cumberland ward who may be feeling under the weather: please don't come to the polling station.

Instead, Elections Ottawa is urging people to vote in the current byelection for the east-end ward to do so by proxy — a power voters have always had, but usually receives little attention.

But as coronavirus cases increase, officials are shining the spotlight on the proxy option.

"If you're sick, you have COVID-19, you're not feeling well, you've travelled in the last 14 days … please don't come to our voting locations," Michèle Rochette, the city's manager of municipal elections, told reporters during a technical briefing this week.

Instead, Rochette is pleading with voters who shouldn't be leaving their homes to assign a proxy who can cast a ballot on their behalf.

3 options to cast ballot

Asking people to stay away from the voting stations is an unusual message for an elections officer, especially as advanced voting began on Monday, and continues Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

But of course, these are unusual times that call for things to be done differently.

• Cumberland candidates up against COVID-19
• Here are your candidates for the Cumberland byelection

Election officials consulted with Ottawa Public Health to make sure the in-person voting process was safe, including requiring most people to wear a mask and limiting the number of people in a voting place.

Residents also had the option to vote by mail, and 1,403 people registered for one of these special ballots. (The registration deadline has passed.) The completed ballots can be mailed in or dropped off at the elections office on Cyrville Road or at the city's client service centre in Orléans on Centrum Boulevard. But whichever way voters decided to get their ballots in, elections officials must have them by 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 5. 

There's also a third way to cast a ballot: assign a proxy.

The Municipal Elections Act has always allowed voting by proxy, but there's never been much a communications push by elections officials for this option — until now.

"If people are still feeling uneasy about coming to a voting location or — I'd like to get this message across — not feeling well, self-isolating, have travelled, they can still have an option to vote by proxy," Rochette repeated to reporters. "We have staff that are standing by to help people out with this."

She said it's never been easier to vote by proxy, as the forms are online and the proxy can bring those forms to be certified directly to the voting place before casting the ballot.

Rochette urged anyone with questions about voting by proxy to call the elections office at 613-580-2660.

2nd byelection of term, but most costly

Council called for a byelection in Cumberland after the former representative, Stephen Blais, became the area's MPP back in February. Holding the byelection to fill the east-end seat was put off due to the pandemic. But in July, with the COVID-19 cases seemingly under control, and a plan to put a number of safety measures in place, council decided to move ahead with the byelection.

It's the second one for this term of council. In late 2018, weeks after the municipal election, Tobi Nussbaum was named the CEO of the National Capital Commission. Coun. Rawlson King was elected the following April as the new representative for Rideau-Rockcliffe.

That byelection cost about $330,000.

But the voting process to replace the Cumberland councillor is expected to cost more than $523,000 due the additional advance voting day — there's usually only one in a byelection — the special mail-in ballot process, protective equipment, additional staffing and cleaning requirements.