When you live at the end of a highway in Northern Manitoba, you’re used to driving a long way to perform tasks that other Canadians can take for granted, but the mayor of Lynn Lake is upset that residents of that town must make a 200-kilometre round-trip journey if they wish to vote in advance polls for the Oct. 19 federal election.
Lynn Lake Mayor James Lindsay, writing as a private citizen for his blog at http://election42.blogspot.ca/, said that the advance poll location was brought to his attention by a friend of his wife’s after they had received their voter information cards (VIC) in the mail.
“At that point, I dug out my own VIC and sure enough, my Advance Poll location was listed as, ‘Leaf Rapids Town Centre, Leaf Rapids.’ Here’s the thing: We do not live in Leaf Rapids. We live in Lynn Lake ... 100km northwest of Leaf Rapids. This strikes me as a little bit of a journey. Likewise, it’s a bit of a journey for a number of people who already know that they will be unable to be in Lynn Lake on Election Day.”
Lindsay’s Twitter inquiries to Elections Canada led to him being advised to contact his local Elections Canada office.
“I called the Toll-Free number on my VIC to see if there was anyone at the other end of the phone who could shed some light on this matter. The four different people I spoke to at the Elections Canada Office in Thompson (330km away) were sympathetic, but were of limited assistance. The decision to have a single advance polling location 100km away from Lynn Lake was, according to them, not their decision. They suggested that I apply for a mail-in ballot, and also directed me to the Elections Canada website for further contact information regarding ‘who’ made the decision to have the only advance poll 100km away from a community of about 700 people.”
According to the Elections Act, electoral district returning officers establish advance polling districts consisting of one or more polling divisions and establish advance polling stations in each of those districts. Returning officers may, with the permission of the chief electoral officer, combine two advance polling districts into one or change an advance polling station’s location in response to requests, but those requests must be made within four days of the election writ being issued, which is long before most voters will learn where the advance poll is to be located. Advance polling stations are usually in wheelchair-accessible locations but may be established in locations without such access if no such premises are available. The Leaf Rapids Town Centre location of the advance polling station does not offer wheelchair access, according to the Elections Canada website.
Lindsay wrote in his blog that advance polling locations have been established in Lynn Lake in previous federal elections. He has also filed a formal complaint about the situation with Elections Canada, which reads: “Advance polling for my Riding (Churchill-Keewatinook Aski) at Poll 007 is located 100km away in another community at Poll 601. All voters who require the need to vote in the Advance Poll may have no access to this location as there is no public transportation between the Town of Lynn Lake and the Town of Leaf Rapids.
“In the past, Advance Polls have been available to citizens of the Town Of Lynn Lake and The Town of Leaf Rapids locally. The requirement to now undergo a 200km round-trip journey to vote in the Advance Poll is an affront to our Constitutionally Guaranteed Democratic Rights and places us at an unfair disadvantage simply because of our geographic location.
The deadline for the ability for myself and numerous other citizens of my community to vote by other means is shrinking rapidly and may end up disenfranchising myself and numerous other qualified voters.
I would like Elections Canada to immediately change this decision and provide an Advance Polling Station within the Town of Lynn Lake.”
Lindsay is also encouraging other concerned voters to register their own complaints about the advance polling location. He also notes on his blog that Cranberry Portage voters must not only make a 90-kilometre trip if they wish to vote in an advanced poll but that they must also travel that 180 kilometres round-trip in order to cast a ballot on election day.
