Mail-in ballot deadlines for school board elections extended due to Fiona

People hoping to cast a vote for school board elections have a little more time to do so due to post-tropical storm Fiona.

"The storm hit… just after the close of nominations, so we had all the candidates who had come forward. We realized the true impact of the storm, as everybody did, when they woke up the next morning and in the following days," Tim Garrity, CEO of Elections P.E.I. told Island Morning host Mitch Cormier.

"We had a conversation with our partners at the Department of Education and decided right away to say, 'OK, instantly we'll put out a message that there will be a delay, but let's work on how long ... and the new dates.'"

The period to apply for a mail-in ballots for both the Public Schools Branch and La Commission scolaire de langue française is extended until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29, and the period to return ballots is extended until noon on Thursday, Nov. 10.

"We looked at how long people have been without their amenities. And we understand that everybody's going through a very difficult time with this right now, but seeing that this was a mail-in ballot election where there are two ways to apply either online or by phone and both those lines were impacted for a lot of people," he said.

All of those factors were considered in picking new dates, Garrity said.

Officials at Elections P.E.I. did consider the fact the storm hit on Sept. 23 — the same day nominations closed — but Garrity said people had weeks to apply and it was determined an extension wasn't needed for nominations.

This is the first time in a decade elections have been held for the English and French school boards.

Elections P.E.I. started mailing the mail-in ballot kits this week to the eligible voters who have already applied.

Hoping more Islanders register

So far 1,400 islanders registered to vote in school board elections, Garrity said. Elections P.E.I. will review and report on the election as it does for provincial votes.

"In the Public Schools Branch every eligible elector on P.E.I. is eligible to vote in the PSB elections, so around 105,000 or 106,000 so we do have time to get our numbers up."

For both elections you need to be a Canadian citizen over the age of 18 and you have to have lived in P.E.I. for at least six months before election day.

In addition, for the French school board, voters must have a child who is eligible under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to go to a French-language school.