The City of Kamloops will use McArthur Island as an advancing polling place this October.
It will double the number of places where Kamloopsians can cast their ballot for a Mayor, eight Councillors, and five School Trustees in this year’s municipal election, joining Heritage House in Riverside Park.
“McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre was selected as a polling place as it is located along a bus route and is accessible to anyone with mobility issues,” Chief Election Officer, Amanda Passmore said.
There will be three days of advanced polls in Kamloops – Wednesday, Oct. 5, Saturday, Oct. 8, and Wednesday, Oct. 12.
Passmore says Juniper West Elementary School has also been added as a polling place on election day, Oct. 15, taking the total to 16, 15 of which are schools.
“All in-person polling places will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on each scheduled voting day,” Passmore added. “The Election team is pleased to provide this greater access to voting opportunities.”
“For public health and out of an abundance of cautious preparation for a viral surge, polling places will be supplied with sanitization kits that contain all the necessary products to clean and sanitize hands [as well as] high contact touch points, tools, and surfaces.”
If in-person voting is not your thing, all Kamloops residents will be able to request a mail-in ballot for the upcoming municipal election.
Passmore told NL News in March that it comes after the province made permanent some temporary changes that were put in place at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
“Mail-in ballots are not new, but this just opens it up for any eligible voter to request a mail ballot rather than coming to an in-person polling station either on general voting day or at one of our advanced polls,” she said.
“Now that the Local Government Act has removed those stipulations saying [who can request a ballot], we also have to change that to make sure that we are not unnecessarily restricting the public to their rights to access voting.”
You can begin requesting mail-in ballots at 9:00 a.m. on Sept. 6 until Oct. 14, though if you make your request after Oct. 2, you’ll have to pick your ballot up at City Hall. All mail ballots have be returned by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day.
Detailed information on mail-in ballot voting can be found online, by email, or by calling 250-828-3483.
