New Brunswick's provincial flag flies in Ottawa on July 3, 2020.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Demand for mail-in ballots is spiking in New Brunswick, as voters try to avoid expected crowds at polling stations in the first Canadian election held during the COVID-19 crisis.
A surge in this type of voting – normally used by people studying, working or travelling outside of the province – as well as longer waits expected at polling stations because of public-health requirements, could slow the delivery of results on election night, the province’s top election official warns. Elections New Brunswick ordered 250,000 extra vote-by-mail kits in advance of the Sept. 14 election, far greater than the few thousand typically needed for a normal election.
“There’s no playbook for planning an election during a pandemic,” the province’s Chief Electoral Officer Kim Poffenroth said. “We expected the requests for mail-in ballots to be quite high, but we weren’t sure the degree to which people would be interested in that. It’s been significant.”
New Brunswickers are heading to the polls after the Blaine Higgs Progressive Conservative government called a snap election while the province tries to recover from the devastating effects of the coronavirus. The 28-day campaign, the shortest allowed by law, has left elections staff scrambling to prepare for a vote with unprecedented logistical and public-health challenges. These include finding enough polling stations in a rental market where some landlords still haven’t reopened their properties.
New Brunswick Tories try to keep voters’ focus on Higgs’s response to COVID-19 pandemic
New Brunswick Liberals, Greens vow to eliminate use of industrial herbicide on public land
New Brunswick’s two major parties far from gender parity in slate of candidates
With a provincial election in Saskatchewan next month, and the possibility of a federal election looming, New Brunswick offers lessons for other jurisdictions in Canada facing the prospect of holding a vote during the throes of a pandemic.
That includes managing the sheer volume of people trying to vote by mail for the first time, a method that takes longer to process than conventional ballots. With a large increase expected, they’re urging voters who are uncomfortable going to polling stations to apply for mail-in ballots early so that counting can be finished soon after polls close.
The pandemic has also exposed shortcomings in provincial election legislation that was never designed for the public-health concerns caused by COVID-19, Ms. Poffenroth said – such as a rule that only allows for two days of advance polls. That makes it harder for Elections New Brunswick to space out crowds expected to line up outside voting centres, she said.
“We need more flexibility in our legislation to deal with the unique circumstances that present themselves during this type of public-health emergency,” she said.
Elections New Brunswick had planned to test telephone voting in several by-elections this fall before the general election was called. Ms. Poffenroth said COVID-19 pushes the need to explore electronic voting, and other alternative options, even further.
Opposition parties have criticized the decision to call an election during the pandemic, calling it unsafe and unnecessary. With continuing restrictions limiting visitors to nursing homes, elections staff are unable to establish temporary polling stations inside those facilities, and are giving administrators mail-in ballots for residents instead.
Elections New Brunswick has also hired two extra staff at each polling station to deal strictly with COVID-19 measures. One will be responsible for enforcing physical distancing and hand sanitizing. The second will have the task of cleaning shared surfaces, including the markers for ballots and the sleeves used to feed votes into tabulation machines.
Those extra costs and other pandemic-related expenses are expected to add at least another $1-million to the $12-million it cost the province to run the past election, Ms. Poffenroth said.
The Chief Electoral Officer and political observers expect the pandemic will keep many voters from participating in the election. That’s particularly true of older voters, who are the most at risk of more serious health problems from the coronavirus.
“One of the big reasons is fear. There may be a good number of people who are 50-plus or 60-plus who just don’t want to risk it,” said Tom Bateman, a political scientist at St. Thomas University in Fredericton.
Without conventional election tactics such as door-to-door canvassing or public forums, it’s also been a quiet campaign with few galvanizing issues, he said. Mail-in ballots are a new concept for a lot of voters, who may not leave enough time to apply, he added.
“There’s just not the normal buzz around this election,” Dr. Bateman said. “I think it’s all going to contribute to a depressed turnout on the 14th.”
Voter turnout in the 2018 election was 67 per cent, already one of the lowest results since the late 1970s.
Elections New Brunswick is trying to reassure the public that they can vote safely despite COVID-19 concerns.
Voters will also have the option not to use the “secrecy sleeves” that hide their ballots as they’re fed into the tabulation machines. They’ll be encouraged to wear masks inside polling stations – although scrutineers can ask for them to be removed to confirm a voter’s identity.
But the best option for people who are concerned is to avoid the lineups on Sept. 14 and vote early or by mail, Ms. Poffenroth said.
Our Morning Update and Evening Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.