‘A really important election’: Kamloops residents vote on first day of advance polls

Polling stations at McArthur Island and Heritage House are open 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., with two more early voting opportunities – Saturday, Oct. 10 and Wednesday, Oct. 14 – before the Oct. 17 municipal election.

“I’m here to vote for a whole new council hopefully,” another resident said. “The last one hasn’t done an impressive job, as far as I’m concerned. They’ve done projects and then the cost has gone up by millions with no acceptable explanations, so that’s why I voted today.”

“I voted for change also,” a third resident said. “I wanted somebody fresh in there, new ideas.”

“I wanted to vote for change from our current council and mayor,” added a fourth. “Just because I think we need something a little bit more effective in our town.”

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, and every single incumbent in Kamloops is seeking re-election.

“We all have opinions about the current council and mayor,” another resident told CFJC Today outside Heritage House. “If you’ve got an opinion, you can’t complain, you can’t praise if you haven’t had a part in the election, and I think every citizen has the responsibility to do their part.”

The city has used electronic voting machines to count ballots for many an election and Chief Election Officer Alisha Beday told CFJC Today there are measures to ensure secrecy until the results are published on Oct. 17.

“We test every single machine before they’re even issued. We will then sealing the machines,” Beday said. “Each machine has memory cards and that’s what collects our results that we’re able to post. We are the ones that put on the seals. We are the ones that take off the seals.”

“We work through Dominion, who provides our voting machines, and we’ll also have a representative on site on general voting date.”

Those machines read and count ballots cast by voters, and it helps speed things up so results can be released not long after polls close. There are also mechanisms in case people have issues while voting, or if they make a mistake.

“If that votes chooses to fix their ballot, they would then be sent to the presiding election official to be provided a new ballot,” Beday said. “Their current ballot would be spoiled and we have to put that aside because it has be accounted for at the end of the night.”

“The individual could also say [it was] their intention was to vote the way they did, and their ballot would be cast as is.”

No matter your preference on candidates, both election officials and voters CFJC spoke to said it is important that people have their say at the ballot box.

“We encourage everyone to exercise their right to vote,” Beday said. “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.]”

Information on how many votes were cast in advance will be released next week, and a final tally will be released on election day.

“I think this is a really important election, and I think its really important for everybody to get out and vote,” one resident said.

Added another, “that’s the only way you’re going to make a difference. If you don’t like what you see, then that vote gives you a chance to make a change.”

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

‘A really important election’: Kamloops residents vote on first day of advance polls

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