Advance voting in Kamloops begins Wednesday ahead of Oct. 17 municipal election

“When they arrive on site, we’ll have election workers just reminding them to pull out their ID, get ready to register to vote,” Beday said. “They’ll then be sent to one of our registration tables and another election worker will be there to fill out our voting book with the information that they provided. There’s a declaration that they’ll review, read and sign off on and then they’ll be issued a ballot.”

“[Once they’ve picked their candidates], they’ll be taken to one of our voting booths and then they’re able to [fill out] their ballots. They’ll then be taken to one of our voting tabulators to cast their ballots, and then that will be it.”

Beday said the whole process should only take about 10 minutes, barring any lineups during peak times. She also said markers will be provided so people can mark their ballots.

“We’ll only have one machine at every polling location but we will have multiple registration tables because that will take the most time,” Beday said.

There are 51 candidates for local office in Kamloops – six for mayor, 29 for councillor and 16 for Area 1 of the Kamloops-Thompson School District.

“We encourage everyone to exercise their right to vote,” Beday added. “We also want to remind everyone that yes [you can vote for] up to eight councillors or up to five school trustees, that does not mean that you have to choose eight [or five.]”

“We always recommend you choose the individuals you feel best represent your interests for yourself and your community. If you don’t choose all eight [or all five], that is okay, too.”

Municipal election day is Saturday, Oct. 17, and there will be 16 polling stations across Kamloops. As with advance polls, ballots on election day can be cast between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.

CFJC will bring you live election results that evening once the polls close.

For more information about voting requirements in Kamloops, go here. People looking for information on where and how to vote in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District or in other Kamloops-area municipalities can contact their local municipal office.

All of CFJC’s coverage of the upcoming municipal election can be found here.

by Victor Kaisar

Advance voting in Kamloops begins Wednesday ahead of Oct. 17 municipal election

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