Extra cleaning, extra pencils, extra staff lined up for P.E.I. byelection

Voters in P.E.I.'s District 10, Charlottetown-Winsloe are going to see a different look at the polling station during the Island's first COVID-19 pandemic election on Nov. 2.

Elections P.E.I. has been preparing for a byelection since Robert Mitchell resigned his seat last month, and on Tuesday Premier Dennis King set the date for the election.

"It's nice to have the date, so now we have some firm timelines, but we've been making sure that all the safety protocols will be in place for our workers and the voters," Chief Electoral Officer Tim Garrity told Island Morning host Laura Chapin.

Those protocols will include poll workers wearing masks or face shields, Plexiglas barriers, social distancing floor markers, and pencils will be one-time use. Voters will be strongly encouraged to wear face masks, and voting booths will be sanitized after every voter.

Garrity said there will be extra staff at the polling booth to ensure all the extra work is done in a timely fashion.

"I don't think there'll be any additional wait times or lineups that we can anticipate," he said.

"We're strongly encouraging the mail-in ballot application as well, for anybody who doesn't feel that they would like to go out to the polling location."

Elections P.E.I. is expecting more people to take advantage of mail-in ballots, which are available for all voters. Voters can get applications online or by calling Elections P.E.I.

The deadline for mail-in ballot applications is Oct. 20 at 6 p.m.

Advance voting will take place from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24; Monday, Oct. 26 and Friday, Oct. 30. The same voting hours will apply on the day of the byelection as well. 

All the advance polls, and polling on election day, will be at Community Baptist Church at 162 Sherwood Rd.

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