THUNDER BAY — Even though candidate lists for the upcoming federal election won’t be finalized for just under two weeks, electors can start casting write-in ballots as returning offices have opened.
The returning office for Thunder Bay-Superior North is located at County Fair Mall on Dawson Road, while the Thunder Bay-Rainy River main office is at the former Agnew H. Johnston Public School on Churchill Drive.
Aside from serving as headquarters for Elections Canada operations in each riding, the returning offices are where people can cast advance votes up until six days before the April 28 election day, said Thunder Bay-Superior North returning officer Dale Mason. Until April 7 — when candidate lists are finalized with Elections Canada — voting at this point is done by write-in ballot.
“It is a write-in ballot and what the person needs to know is the name of the person (they’re voting for),” he said.
“They don't need to know their party, they just put the name of the person on the ballot, and it's put into a privacy envelope and then into a secondary envelope and then it goes into a ballot box.”
The risk there, is if the written candidate’s name doesn’t appear on the final Elections Canada lists, then that ballot is effectively spoiled, said Thunder Bay-Rainy River returning officer Kevin O’Donnell.
Additional regional returning offices for Thunder Bay-Superior North are located in Geraldton, Marathon and Nipigon, while Thunder Bay-Rainy River has regional sites in Fort Frances and Atikokan, according to the Elections Canada website.
Both returning offices are actively hiring people for a wide variety of positions, both returning officers said, saying, in total, each riding will need several hundred more staff. That includes for advanced polls.
Those are where electors can cast their votes at additional locations across each riding prior to election day — they will be open over the Easter weekend: April 18 to 21.
Mason said there are several reasons to consider applying.
“One, because they love their country — here’s a flag,” he said. “Two, because it's a fun social activity to be part of a group or running a poll.”
“And three, because you get paid — it’s not volunteer work — you get paid for training and then you get paid for the day or the four days that you work.”
O’Donnell said it takes a lot of people working together to make an election run smoothly, but said he feels things are “on track.”
“We're hiring literally hundreds of people and there are tons of moving parts, lots of election roles for election day,” he said.
“So, we're trying to make sure that everybody has a good experience as a voter, and we're trying to make sure that our staff is respected and is safe.”
All returning offices are open from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.
-With files from Brendan Miller
