Steady stream of voters throughout day

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/10/2010 (5670 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new poll set up at Brandon University has seen "phenomenal" turnout so far, with one official saying that it was better than they had ever expected.

About 200 people had voted at the BU polling station, which was open to voters from all wards.

Meanwhile, officials at another Brandon polling station said earlier that there hadn’t been a crush of people waiting to vote, but numbers had been steady. Short line-ups were observed from time to time.

"[I think] it’s low … but it comes and goes," said Ben Horne, who was checking identification and handing out ballots at Lions Manor at the corner of First Street and Victoria Avenue.

As of 10:30 a.m., there had been 114 ballots cast at Lions Manor — also known as Riverview Ward Polling Station 9A.

"It was slower than we thought at the beginning," said polling station supervisor Riley Cuthbert, "but it’s getting steadier."

The electronic vote-counting machines hadn’t been a problem, though staff laughingly waved off questions with a "Don’t jinx it!"

One Lions Manor resident who initially had her ballot rejected said that she only had to fill in her choices a little bit more.

"It’s very good, it’s wonderful," said Betty Radford, who added that if the machine rejected her ballot a second time, officials had offered to give her a new one. "It’s going to be very fast."

The vote-counting machines mean that election results should be available as soon as 9 p.m. tonight, just an hour after polls close.

"The system has been great," Cuthbert said.