Over 30,000 people voted at advance polls over the weekend in St. Albert, with steady lineups at stations across the city, according to St. Albert-Sturgeon River returning officer Trudy Bossio. Although some voters found the wait times frustrating.
Advance voting stations opened around the country on April 18, and ran until 9:30 p.m. on April 22. The returning officer for St. Albert-Sturgeon River, Trudy Bossio, said St. Albert saw extraordinarily high numbers.
30,878 people voted at advance polls over the long weekend, which Bossio said amounts to around 32 per cent of St. Albert-Sturgeon River's voters.
"I think this was very high. It was swamped all weekend, and it was not just here it was everywhere," Bossio said. She added that Monday was the busiest day, which surprised her, given that she wasn't sure what the turnout would look like being that it was a long weekend.
She said she's expecting election day to be as busy, if not busier.
"Usually advance polls are an indication of how many people are coming," she said. She couldn't recall specific numbers of what advance voter turnout looked like for St. Albert in past elections, and given the electoral district has changed, it's difficult to look at specific comparisons. But she said she thinks "the last couple were fairly close to [32 per cent], but I don't think this high."
Long lines frustrating for some
While long lineups are an indication of an in-tune voter base, some found the experience frustrating.
Dianne Dunfield went to vote with her 96-year-old mother at the Kinsmen Club on the morning of Friday, April 18. She said they had to wait in a line for over two hours before they were able to cast their ballot.
She said the Kinsmen Club voting station only had one worker for each district assigned to vote at the station.
"There were lots of people there, so I don't understand why there weren't more booths," Dunfield said. She said her mother has voted in every election and hadn't seen anything like that. It was Dunfield's first time voting in advance.
"Everybody was kind of shocked, a lot of people when they found out there was only one station for you to vote at left," she said. "You knew at the rate we were going through you were going to be there for an hour and a half to two hours. So not everybody was willing to wait."
Bossio said she thinks there is some misunderstanding from people on how labour intensive it is for each vote, especially in advance.
"There were two people at each desk, but it's still a long, long process. And I think a lot of people don't understand how much work there is to doing advance polling or a special ballot. People get frustrated because they're standing in line, but there's a lot of paperwork to be done to ensure that the vote list is updated," Bossio said.
"It does take a bit longer than when you're voting at a regular poll on election day," she said. But she thanked the people who did work over the long weekend.
"They did an absolutely amazing job for the number of people they put through this weekend."
Looking ahead to election day, she said they are looking to hire around 900 people throughout the electoral district, and hopes that everyone who hasn't already voted will come out to vote on election day.
St. Albertans head to the polls on April 28. For election night coverage visit stalbertgazette.com.
