Problems crop up at polls on election day

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This article was published 26/10/2022 (1173 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Voters in Brandon complained of locked polling places, a lack of signage and being turned away on the morning of election day.

Though the city told the Sun that many of these problems had been solved, Sun staffers noted around noon there were still several locations lacking signage.

Around 8:15 a.m., Ward 8 candidate Michael McCormick told the Sun that he and others had been turned away from voting at the Riverview Curling Club.

McCormick said that an election worker there told him that they only had a ballot box for people with last names starting with the letters A to L and that he could either vote at another polling station, or record his votes there but not put them in the existing ballot box.

The staff member told him a request had been made for more ballot boxes.

McCormick had to leave for an appointment but was able to vote when he returned around 10:20 a.m., when he was told that the staff member had been mistaken and only one box was needed for the whole station.

“I came back because I wanted to know, but what about all the people who didn’t?” he said, adding he was worried the blunders could affect the results, especially since the curling club was a polling station for two wards, 8 and 10.

“What did happen?” he asked. “Is the city going to investigate further? Does the city know how many people they turned away?”

As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, City of Brandon corporate communications officer Merrilea Price said the issue was due to a misunderstanding and that anyone eligible to vote at the curling club could now do so.

At approximately 3 p.m., the city issued a media notice stating that only six people had been affected at the curling club.

Price was unsure if the city would send out a message to alert people who were turned away that they could return.

On Twitter, Brandon resident Grant Hamilton made a series of posts outlining the difficulties he had trying to vote at the East End Community Centre.

“When I got there this morning, I couldn’t see any signs that said ‘election day’ or ‘polling place,’” he told the Sun. “I’d seen people in other cities, like in Winnipeg, posting selfies of voting and have nice signs that say that, and that’s what I’m used to, but I didn’t see that.”

He said he went around to the other side of the building to check and saw no signs there, either. The door on that side of the building was locked, so he went back around and tried the other door. It was locked, too. Someone working inside heard something and opened the door to let him in.

“It’s a little unorganized and frankly a little worrisome that it wasn’t as professional as in previous elections,” Hamilton said.

According to Price, signs were being set up that morning. However, when a Sun staffer went by the East End Community Centre around 11:45 a.m., no signs had been put up yet.

Coun. Bruce Luebke (Ward 6), who was acclaimed back onto council, responded to Hamilton’s thread by saying that the doors hadn’t been locked when he’d voted at the same place earlier in the morning.

Hamilton also mentioned that the computer system used to track voters had incorrect information about his address, which hasn’t changed in 15 years.

The Sun received a report on computer errors at the Park Community Centre delaying voting, as well. On that front, Price said all computer system issues at polling stations across the city had been resolved.

The other Ward 2 polling station, the North End Community Centre, had a sandwich board outside advertising the election. A similar sign was seen at the Valleyview Community Centre, a Ward 3 polling station.

A little while after a Sun staffer arrived at the Shriners Hall on McTavish Avenue East, a Ward 9 polling place, someone arrived in a truck to tape a small Brandon Votes board sign out front.

Richmond Park Church was listed as a polling place for wards 7 and 8, but slightly different addresses were given on each ward’s list of locations. A Sun staffer noted Wednesday morning that there was no external signage marking it as a polling place.

When a Sun staffer went by Park Community Centre in the morning, the only sign advertising it as a polling place was a hand-drawn sign taped to the door.

The only signs advertising the Sportsplex as a polling place in Ward 1 were small, typed messages taped to the front doors stating that the venue’s viewing areas would be closed during the election.

At the other Ward 1 location, at Monterey Estates’ recreation hall, the exterior signage for the election included an internal notice to residents warning that the building would be only open for the election as well as a couple of notices mentioning voting requirements taped to the front doors.

According to the city, signs weren’t distributed on the night before the election because of concern that potential inclement weather might blow them away.

“Any additional signs that were requested by the voting stations were distributed as needed.”

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @ColinSlark