Voters waiting in line at Kamloops advance polling station, Sept. 10 (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Federal Election

Huge advance polling turnout in Kamloops pressures Elections Canada to hire more vote-counters

Sep 15, 2021 | 11:10 AM

KAMLOOPS — Voters in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo (KTC) riding showed up in droves for advance polling — but that has put Elections Canada officials in a bind for general voting day on Monday (Sept. 20).

Elections Canada says 27,838 KTC residents cast ballots during four days of advance polling last weekend. That’s a 44 per cent increase from the last federal election in 2019, and the second-highest total in B.C. this year.

In 2019, the advance voting total represented 27 per cent of all ballots cast in KTC.

The highest advance ballot total in B.C. was found in North Okanagan-Shuswap with 28,925 — a 42 per cent increase from 2019.

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Cariboo-Prince George advance voting was up by 37 per cent, Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola was up 27 per cent and Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon increased by 21 per cent.

“Turnout was very heavy at advance polling — which was somewhat anticipated, but I think it was even heavier than expected,” KTC Returning Officer Geoff Collier told CFJC Today. “If anybody showed up on Friday morning, they know the lineups were very long. We made some adjustments for that — made things much smoother after that.

“But we’re now in a situation where we have a really large number of advanced votes to count.”

Collier says he still needs to hire about 40 people for Election Day Monday, as that’s the day when all the counting takes place.

“We want to expand our counting team somewhat, so our counting process is quick, accurate, and smooth for everybody — and doesn’t go on until the wee hours of the next morning. We can’t start counting the advance ballots until just before the polls close,” he said.

The temporary jobs are all paid, including for necessary training, which can still take place over the coming days.

“People get paid for the training, they get paid for the counting. I also need some folks to be on standby in case we have some no-shows on Election Day. People get paid for three hours for that, even if they’re just available but never called and sent out,” Collier said.

Those interested in helping with the vote count are asked to sign up through the Elections Canada website or call the local office at 1 (866) 545-0619.

“We go from zero to a company of 1,000 people in a period of four weeks — which is rather amazing, when you think about it,” Collier said. “We train them all as well. There are always demands on training and staffing right up until the very end.”