No matter what, Sunshine Coasters can vote between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Elections Canada office at 5674 Cowrie St. in Sechelt.
Until 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, one can also request a mail-in ballot from elections.ca.
It was message locals were trying to get out to fellow Sunshine Coast residents over the weekend as some reported issues with voter registration cards sending them to different communities for advance polls.
Sechelt to Madeira Park
Sechelt resident Diana Mumford, who has worked federal elections in the past, was piqued to something amiss when her husband received his voter registration card and it directed him to advance polls in Pender Harbour –– a 30-minute drive to the north.
It is of note that there is an advance polling station in downtown Sechelt at the Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre and there is no bus service from Sechelt to Pender Harbour.
Asking around, she discovered people in several Sechelt neighbourhoods, including reportedly Tuwanek, East Porpoise Bay, Sandy Hook and Tillicum Bay, were being directed to Madeira Park for advance polls.
When she checked in with the returning officer in West Vancouver, Mumford said she was told it was “human error.”
Knowing that many of her neighbours are elderly and it would be difficult to get to Pender, Mumford launched a DIY awareness campaign, with the returning electoral officer’s nod, she said.
Mumford posted signs around the neighbourhoods letting people know they can vote at the Sechelt Elections Canada office until 6 p.m. on Tuesday. She also notified local community associations and got the information posted to Facebook. “I did what I could to try to mitigate as many people as possible driving up to Madeira Park.”
While Mumford says “somebody screwed up” she also notes that it’s a short election period and there was very little time between the writ dropping and needing to have the polling sites up and running.
“I understand the timeframe, but let's face it, Elections Canada, this isn't their first rodeo, so they should know,” said Mumford.
Couldn't vote in Pender Harbour
Terry Davies lives overlooking Porpoise Bay in Sechelt and received a voter registration card directing him to Madeira Park for advance voting.
Davies decided to make the drive to Madeira Park on Saturday, but when he got there, he was told he could not vote there.
"I've worked in federal elections before. And I say, 'Everything's up to date. I've got my ID. Why can't I vote here?'" relayed Davies. It turns out, he wasn't on the voters list for the station.
Davies was directed back down to Sechelt and was told he could vote at the Elections Canada office on Cowrie. When he asked what happened, he says he was told the registration cards had "just been printed wrong."
Davies made it back down to Sechelt and voted at the Elections Canada office with no issue, “there wasn’t even a lineup,” but remains frustrated with the mix-up. “It’s pretty unprofessional,” he said.
“My first reaction, when I was up at Madeira, when they told me what had gone on, I said, ‘What is this, the States?”
“I read about this across the line, but not in Canada,” said Davies. “I was less than impressed.”
Earls Cove to Squamish
In Earls Cove, at the northernmost tip of the Southern Sunshine Coast, some residents received voter registration cards directing them to Squamish for advance polls –– an 80-km drive to Langdale, a 40-minute ferry ride across Howe Sound, and then a 45-km drive to Squamish (all on the Easter long weekend).
This, despite a polling station existing at Madeira Park.
Mary Burgoyne is one such resident. She said her neighbours and another person from the area she’d talked to were also directed to Squamish for advance polls. (However, their election day polling station was listed as Madeira Park.)
As she had grocery shopping to do in Madeira Park anyway this weekend, Burgoyne dropped by the Pender Harbour Legion polling station and was in fact able to vote there.
But her frustration remains, “I'm perfectly capable of voting on the 28th, I just prefer to vote early, just because anything could happen –– it is sort of like, ‘Hey, I'm up and moving today,’” said Burgoyne. “It's not a huge deal to me, other than the fact that we should be encouraging people to vote, not discouraging people.
“It's more important all the time that we keep people engaged with these things.”
Burgoyne acknowledges that she doesn’t think it was a malicious error. “I think it was just pure incompetence.”
Burgoyne said she filed a complaint with Elections Canada.
Elections Canada
While Elections Canada did not have immediate comment on the Sunshine Coast situation, B.C. media representative for Elections Canada James Hale noted that the once-every-10-years federal boundary redistribution process had happened since the last election, which may affect polling locations.
Coast Reporter will update the story with comment from Elections Canada when we get it.
Editor's note: This story was updated when advance polls closed to reflect the remaining voting opportunities.
