What voters need to know before Oct. 26

Voting for this October’s municipal has officially opened and will remain open until Monday Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. Residents are encouraged to vote early in case they experience any technological difficulties. Voters are also reminded there are no paper ballots for this election; all voting is to be done online or by phone.

Joel Watts, deputy city clerk, said staff have been working behind the scenes getting ready for this election for 18 months.

Part of this work includes testing both the internet and telephone voting systems to ensure they’re running smoothly. Mock elections are run, where staff know what the result should be. “Every time we’ve done these mock elections, we always discover that there is a mistake, and the mistake is always human error,” Watts said.

Every registered voter should have been mailed a PIN earlier this month. If you have not received your voting PIN, one can be obtained from the election office at city hall, or any municipal service centre. It should be noted that on Oct. 26, PINs will only be issued in person at city hall in Lindsay, or the Bobcaygeon, Coboconk, or Omemee municipal service centres.

For those without a touch-tone telephone or internet, or for those who require assistance, the Kawartha Lakes Service Centre and select Kawartha Lakes libraries will have touch-screen kiosks and computers during regular business hours.

The Bethany, Bobcaygeon, Coboconk, Dalton, Fenelon Falls, Kinmount, Kirkfield, Lindsay, Little Britain and Woodville libraries will be set up for voting.

“At these designated accessible polling stations there are tablet computers set up, as well as public computers, allowing residents to vote. Staff are trained to help residents get logged into the city’s secure polling website or to use the tablets,” said Jamie Anderson, library director and CEO.

For those voting by telephone, they’re asked to listen carefully to all the prompts, and votes will only count after votes have been cast for all three sections on the ballot, mayor, councillor, and school board trustee. Callers can attempt to call a second time with their PIN, if they’ve already voted the system will let them know.

Watts said while he understands that some voters are skeptical of an online voting system, he assures residents that testing is constantly being done in the back end of things leading up to voting opening. He also notes the voting system is being used by 75 municipalities.

When voting opened at 9 a.m., a quick refresh of the screen from Watts showed that 45 people had already cast their vote.

While it’s hard to say what voter turnout will look like this election, Watts said candidates have done a good job engaging residents in their campaigns. “It’s an open election for mayor, and because so many of our council seats are open as well, I think we’re going to see a very engaged election.”

The voting period will close at 8 p.m. Anyone who has started the internet-telephone voting process by 7:59 p.m. will have 15 minutes to complete their vote. Anyone in line at a voter assistance location before 8 p.m. will be allowed to complete their vote.

On election night, residents are invited to a viewing party taking place at the Victoria Park Armoury in Lindsay. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m., and results are anticipated to be in between 9 and 9:30 p.m.

For more information on voting go to kawarthalakes.ca.