Organizers wasting no time in preparation for election day
Oct 09, 2008 - 11:32 PM
By Parvaneh Pessian
WHITBY -- Getting down to the wire with election day on Tuesday, poll organizers are working diligently to ensure everything runs smoothly, says the returning officer for Whitby-Oshawa.
With eight elections under her belt, Moira Ste. Marie -- one of 308 returning officers in Canada -- has a firm grip on the electoral process. But that doesn't make it any easier, she said.
"It's busy, I would be lying if I said it wasn't a lot of work."
Organizers leaped into action as soon as the writ was dropped on Sept. 7, and since then, have been working on a strict 36-day schedule that requires a multitude of crucial procedures.
"The beginning is a very heavy week because it's getting the phones, the furniture and the computers set up and at the same time, you're trying to locate sites for the polls and divide the polls up into the proper locations," Ms. Ste. Marie said.
Confirming the poll locations must happen early so that the voter information cards can be mailed out and any mistakes rectified as soon as possible, she added.
The more than 98,000 cards were distributed to the public on Sept. 17 -- a mere 10 days after the election was called. The returning officers then trained about 730 poll officials to work on the revision process and manage the polls in the community on election day and during advance polls.
The 2006 election followed a calendar of 55 days so the compressed time period in this election proved to be demanding, Ms. Ste. Marie said.
"Each election brings challenges and this one is very quick. It's difficult training all of these people in a short amount of time and you certainly need every minute of every day."
Having the two elections close together helped ease some of the pressure as there were less revisions to be made on voter cards and many of the same polling sites were still available.
Organizers are currently completing training, working out kinks and engaging in test runs to ensure a successful election. When the polls close at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the counting will commence. The totals will be phoned into the district and a verification of the tallies will take place the following day.
The key item this year that all electors must be aware of is the new identification process that requires them to prove their identity and address when they vote or register to vote, Ms. Ste. Marie said.
For more information on the new identification rules, including the pieces of identification authorized by the chief electoral officer, call 1-800-INFO-VOTE or visit www.elections.ca.
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