A Federal By-election has been called in Battle River-Crowfoot, so voters in the riding will hit the polls for a second time this year.
The announcement comes just two months after the 45th General Election held on April 28th.
Elections Canada Spokesperson Matthew McKenna explains while the voting process is still in its early stages, electors and candidates should be aware of some key dates and options available to them as deadlines are closer than they seem.
“Advanced voting does happen the weekend before election day, so that’s Friday, August 8th through to Monday, August 11th, [and] polls are open from nine to nine,” he says. ”For candidates who wanna put their name in the ring, the deadline’s always 21 days before election day, so July 28th at 2:00 p.m. is the cutoff for them to submit.”
Additionally, election day is set for August 18th, but McKenna says special ballot voting options are already available at 6601 48th Avenue in Camrose, for those who need it.
Registration
McKenna says registering early is always a good idea to ensure you receive materials like voter information cards and other key details from Elections Canada in the mail.
“Keep your eyes peeled for a voter information card, we typically start mailing those within a couple of weeks of the call of the election,” he says. “It’s got all that information – where you need to go to vote, the different ways that you can do it, it’s got information about the accessibility of your polling place.”
“It’s always good to register early, you’ll get that voter information card if you do it soon enough, and it makes your time a little bit quicker at the polls,” he adds.
It’s not the end of the world if you miss out on early registration though; McKenna says you can handle any last minute registration at the polls, as long as you are at your assigned location.
“We also mail a guide to the election to every household in the riding, so even if you’re not registered and get your voter information card on time, you’ll still get a little piece of mail from us that gives you some details about the election for registration,” he says. ”You just go to the voting location assigned to you let the folks know that you still need to register and they’ll get you set up – make sure to bring a piece of ID with your current address and your name.”
Elections.ca
McKenna says throughout the election, elections.ca will serve as the headquarters for voter information – housing everything from the locations of voting places to a list of candidates that will be updated as they are announced.
“ Voters have to be at their assigned polling location, so the best bet is to go to elections.ca, type in your postal code, and then you’ll be told exactly where you need to be,” he says. “ A day or two after that, we’ll have the full list, online at elections.ca or if they wanna call the office, they can get it there too.”
“We do keep updating the list of candidates throughout the election period – so folks that do visit the website, they can click and they’ll see how many are registered as of the time they visit the site,” he adds.
Two candidates have been announced as of July 4th. A list of candidates and other voter information is available here.
