Election bus part of drive to increase Sudbury voter turnout

The City of Sudbury has come up with a polling station on wheels.

Inside a modified city transit bus, people can register to vote and cast their ballot for the municipal election.

The City of Sudbury's election bus is a regular city bus that has been converted to feature voting booths.

In the lead up to the municipal vote on Monday, Oct. 27, the bus is parking at a number of workplaces, colleges, universities and even a Sudbury Wolves hockey game.

City Clerk Caroline Hallsworth says the city worked with interested employers to come up with the stops for the election bus, but the idea is also to target demographics that tend to have low voter turnout.

"We've chosen to go to the three post-secondary institutions because many students are not on the voters list, which makes it difficult for them," she said. "They can't vote online unless they are on the list. So, it allows us to both register them and provide them an opportunity to vote at the same time."

Voter turnout in the last municipal election in Sudbury was 49 per cent, slightly ahead of the provincial average of 44 per cent.

CBC Reporter Megan Thomas visited the election bus when it was parked at Health Sciences North:

For a full schedule of where the election bus will be parked in the coming days CLICK HERE. Other advanced polls are also open in a number of locations until Friday.

Traditional polling stations around the city will be open on Monday for election day, and for the first time people can cast their ballot at any voting location.

People wishing to vote online have until Friday to cast a ballot through the city's election website.