If you see something amiss while voting today, speak up.
That’s the message from Elections Canada after an Abbotsford man reported that a list of candidates in his polling booth had a checkmark beside the name of Conservative Ed Fast.
Patrick Power told The News that when he entered his booth at Grace Evangelical Church on McMillan Road, a large candidate list – not his ballot – in the private booth was marked to indicate support for Fast. He said he notified elections workers, who then found lists in other voting booths to also be improperly marked.
Power said the marker seemed intended to mislead or, at least, be “leading” to voters. And he said polling booths should be more frequently checked to ensure they remain devoid of anything that would affect the voting process.
An Elections Canada spokesperson said workers are instructed to check booths regularly to preserve the integrity of the voting process and ensure no materials are left behind. But she said they also count on the public to speak up, like Power did, when they notice something is wrong.
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