The federal election is coming up on April 28th, but voting will open ahead of that with advance polls, which will start in just over a week.
“Advance polls are Easter weekend,” said Margaret Tuchscherer, the returning officer for the riding of Souris-Moose Mountain. “Friday, April 18th, Saturday the 19th, Sunday the 20th, and Monday the 21st.”
The advance polls in Weyburn will be open at McKenna Hall and will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The regular polls will be held on April 28th from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The polls in Weyburn are at McKenna Hall, Wheatland Senior Centre, and Assiniboia Park Elementary School.
Ahead of the vote itself, every elector in the riding should receive a voter information card, or VIC. This VIC will indicate which poll a voter should go to on election day. Those with questions can contact the local Elections Canada office at 866-354-7144 or visit the Elections Canada website.
When arriving at the polling station, voters need to bring identification with their name, address and signature.
“If you take your voter information card, you already have proven that you are in this electoral district, but your driver's license is a great one, but it needs to have the current address,” stated Tuchscherer. “Also, if you go to elections.ca, there is a list of acceptable IDs to make up that combination of printed name, printed address, and signature, and just about anything works to make up that combination.”
The cut-off to cast a ballot on election day is 7:30 p.m., as long as you are in line and inside the door of the polling place. Those who are outside of the polling location won’t be able to vote after the doors close at 7:30 p.m.
Ballots are counted by hand after the polls close, with two election workers. Candidates or one of their representatives are also allowed to be present for the counting of the votes. Once the counting is completed, the results are sent to the returning office as well as Elections Canada.
There are six confirmed candidates in Souris-Moose Mountain for the upcoming election. The candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada is former provincial MLA Steven Bonk. Lyndon Dayman is running for the Canadian Future Party, who is contesting their first general election as a party. The Liberal Party of Canada candidate is Aziz Mian, and the New Democratic Party candidate is Sheena Muirhead Koops. The Green Party candidate is Remi Rheault, and Travis Patron is on the ballot as an independent.