THUNDER BAY — Mother Nature may have dissuaded some voters from heading to their polling station to cast ballots in the federal election.
After heavy turnouts were reported during advance polls in Thunder Bay-Superior North and Thunder Bay-Rainy River, some lineups about half an hour long were reported when polls opened Monday, but the pace slowed after that while heavy rain fell on the city.
"There some lineups at the opening this morning, and that's always the case. I think people were sort of keen at the beginning to get out and get their vote done, and maybe were trying to avoid some of that weather, too," said Kevin O'Donnell, the returning officer in Thunder Bay-Rainy River.
Dale Mason, the returning officer in Thunder Bay-Superior North, also reported lineups at the start of the day, but during a tour of eight polling stations in the afternoon he found lineups of fewer than five people at most locations.
Mason said he believed the weather was having an impact.
Polling stations were expected to be busier again once people got off work at the end of the day.
Both returning officers said they weren't aware of any significant glitches in the voting process.
"There have been some little problems that we solved, like misunderstandings about nicknames versus names and stuff like that, but they were easy to fix," Mason told Newswatch. "It's been steady."
For some reason, this election has seen more people on social media questioning why pencils are being used to mark ballots, with some voters suggesting this could lead to their votes being changed before they're counted.
Mason said he told his election workers to provide both pens and pencils, but commented that "It's pretty impossible for anybody to erase anybody's vote. There are multiple people watching the counting process. And there are people looking over our shoulders. The candidates can have their scrutineers watching us , and we actually bring in witnesses when there are no scrutineers."
O'Donnell, too, was quick to contradict the speculation he's seen online about the risk of using a pencil to mark a ballot.
"There seems to be a lot of of that on these social media platforms. Some of these people need to come out and work (in a polling station), so they could then understand it's just not a possibility."
He said pencils have been used since the start of elections in Canada, but "there's never a point where there's one person alone with a ballot box. When the boxes are opened and the ballots are counted, there are always at least two people in the room. There's no possibility anybody, anywhere, can erase a ballot."
Voting continues until 9:30 pm in the Eastern time zone, and 8:30 pm in the Central time zone.
