Thunder Bay mayoral candidate criticizes plan for advance poll

Thunder Bay's city clerk is trying something new to boost voter turnout in this month's municipal election, but one mayoral candidate thinks it's a bad idea.

An advance poll will be held Oct. 20 at a special meeting of SHIFT, a young professionals group.

City clerk John Hannam likens it to advance polls his office is setting up in 18 buildings around the city, but said this is the first one connected to a specific group.

He said it’s another way to get 20-to-40-year-old voters to participate, and he may pursue it further in future elections.

“I think it's an opportunity that we'd be happy to expand on in the next election, if the Rotary club or some other community organization wanted to hold an event at which we're offering advance polling.”

But a candidate for mayor of Thunder Bay says the city clerk made a mistake by agreeing to set up an advance election poll at the SHIFT meeting.

Shane Judge said an advance poll for a group that appeals to a particular demographic may have a bias, and undermines the democratic process.

“I'm very concerned that this is a particular organization that may or may not have a particular agenda in this election,” he said.

“I find this confounding that the clerk's office would seek out a group that is so narrowly focused.”

‘Intriguing concept’

But mayoral candidate Ken Boshcoff sees Hannam's rationale.

“It will certainly help young people get out to vote,” he said.

“This is news to me, so it does sound like an intriguing concept in terms of how the city can get out to more facilities like that and get more people to vote.”

Being flexible and adaptable around voting could be positive for improving voter turnout in the future, Boshcoff noted.

Judge said it's not the same as putting an advance poll in a hospital or a library. He added that the principle of "utter neutrality" at a poll is at stake.

Mayoral candidate Keith Hobbs is not concerned, saying he considers SHIFT members educated about what's going on in Thunder Bay and rooted in what he described as all of the city's complex issues.

Poll not ‘widely’ advertised

SHIFT president Peter Marchl told CBC News the meeting will be a one-off, focusing on the election, and will be both a social and an educational function for members. Marchl said initially his group wanted the city`s mobile Voting Van to come by, but the schedule did not allow it.

The event will be catered, he added, but no alcohol will be served. Marchl said most SHIFT meetings attract 60 to 100 people. "If there's a little bit of an enticement, more of a social atmosphere, then we can encourage more people to actually come out," he said.

Judge pointed out “the poll was not advertised widely by the clerk's office ... I think this should have been much better-advertised that [the poll] is open to everybody."

Hannam said the city runs advance polls starting Oct. 14.

“We also have the Voting Van that's gonna be at several locations during the week. But we're also running advance voting in places like Con College and Lakehead University as well as a number of what we typically refer to as ‘building polls’,” he said.

“So those are senior citizens homes and apartment buildings that are largely populated by seniors."

Hannam said the SHIFT event advance poll will be open to the public, and “anyone could come to the event and vote if they wish to."

The poll will be open from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct. 20 at Mariner's Hall at Prince Arthur's Landing.