P.E.I. byelection results could come quickly thanks to advance voting

Prince Edward Islanders watching the byelection in District 10, Charlottetown-Winsloe today could get an idea of which way the vote is going not long after the polls close at 7 p.m.

Vote counting will start early on ballots cast by mail and in the advance polls. Almost half of registered voters cast their ballots in advance.

"We're looking at well over 1,900 advance ballots to go through," said Paul Alan, manager of election operations at Elections P.E.I. 

"We're starting the advance count a little bit earlier in the afternoon, so that will ensure that hopefully they'll be done by 7 o'clock."

The doors of the polling station will close at 7 p.m., but anyone waiting outside will be brought in to cast their vote. There are always a few stragglers, said Alan, and the advance poll result will not be released until the last vote is cast.

"Everyone in the counting room has to sit there and wait until the polls close and the last voter leaves the polling location before they are released," said Alan.

It is also possible that there will be issues with ballots that will slow down the count, he said.

There was a flurry of voting at 9 a.m., he said, but that tapered off as the weather deteriorated in the morning. Alan is expecting another surge of voters later in the afternoon.

In alphabetical order by last name, the candidates are: 

• Zack Bell, Progressive Conservative Party.
• Zac Murphy, Liberal Party.
• Lynne Thiele, New Democratic Party.
• Chris van Ouwerkerk, Green Party.

Polls are open at the Community Baptist Church, 162 Sherwood Road today from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. People should bring the voter information cards they received in the mail as well as one piece of government-issued ID showing your address, or two other pieces of identification with your name and address. 

As of the end of the third day of advance voting Friday, 39.81 per cent of potential voters had already made their choices among the four candidates seeking the mandate to represent the provincial district.

Another 5.64 per cent have voted by mail-in ballot.

Voters must be masked

"And bring a mask as well," said Paul Alan, operations manager at Elections P.E.I. "If you don't have a mask, we can supply them at the door."

Alan said it took some extra planning to prepare for this byelection because of COVID-19 public health rules. 

"Big thing is the social distancing … we're trying to make it as contactless as possible." 

Extra staff were brought on to help sanitize everything throughout the day, plexiglass shields are in place to shield employees who interact with voters and officials are carefully managing the capacity in the room.

"We're keeping a close eye on that. But everything has been moving along very steadily," said Alan. 

Two teams of counters will work on the advance vote. There are nine polls within the district, and counting will get underway on those once the last vote is cast, with each count taking place in a separate room.

They will try to get the results out early, Alan said, but added Elections P.E.I.'s motto "is always accuracy over speed."  

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