Some Yellowknife residents reported being turned away when they tried to cast an advance vote on Wednesday, unaware that voting dates for the municipal election had changed.
Municipal election day is Monday, October 19. Ahead of that, people have been able to vote in advance by doing so at the office of the returning officer.
That form of advance voting ended on Tuesday. However, earlier in the campaign, Elections NWT and the City of Yellowknife initially stated an end date of Friday, October 16 according to the territorial chief electoral officer, Stephen Dunbar.
Some residents sent Cabin Radio screenshots showing October 16 previously appearing on the city’s website as the last day for advance voting.
Dunbar said the date was changed when the NWT government’s Department of Municipal and Community Affairs got in touch to say the relevant election legislation did not allow an October 16 end date.
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Maca told Elections NWT and the city that the legislation required an October 13 end date to advance voting, so the date was changed. According to Dunbar’s records, that switch took place on or around September 22.
On September 25, the city changed its daily emailed updates about the election to show the October 13 date – highlighting the date in yellow in that day’s email, though the email did not note a change had occurred. How else the change was communicated wasn’t immediately clear.
“October 16 was originally identified as the end date for advance voting when the election information was first prepared,” a city spokesperson stated by email after this article was first published.
“Following subsequent direction from NWT Elections, we were advised that the advance voting period should conclude on October 13, and the City’s election materials were updated accordingly.”
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Proxy voting available till 3pm Wednesday
The broader category of “early voting” continues this week because mobile polls, another form of early voting for people who cannot easily access a regular poll, are ongoing.
There is one potential solution if you had planned to vote in advance later this week, based on the old dates, and won’t be in Yellowknife on Monday next week to vote in person.
You have until 3pm on Wednesday to apply for a proxy vote, which lets someone else vote in your place on October 19.
The instructions for acquiring a proxy vote are on the city’s election page. You’ll need to hurry and the person you select to vote on your behalf will need to sign a document in person before the 3pm deadline.
One resident told Cabin Radio they witnessed four people being turned away when trying to vote in advance on Wednesday, and had been told by an official that many others were in a similar position.
Dunbar said Elections NWT had “certainly had to tell several people” the opportunity to vote in advance had ended.
The specific legislative issue centres on section 11 of the Local Authorities Elections Act, Dunbar said.
That section states: “An advance vote, if required, must be held not earlier than the 14th day and not later than the 7th day before election day.”
