Advanced voting for the upcoming federal election starts today and will run through Monday as people can cast their ballot on the long weekend ahead of election day coming up on April 28.
West Central residents are in parts of three different ridings this election: Swift Current-Grasslands-Kindersley, Battlefords-Lloydminster-Meadow Lake, and Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek.
Assigned polling stations will be open from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, and voters will find their advanced polling locations on their voter information card or can use the Elections Canada voter information service link and search by inserting their postal code.
The busiest time for advanced voting is typically 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM for anyone planning ahead. Noon until 4:00 PM is the next busiest, with lines shortest in the morning and evening hours. On Election Day, however, the biggest surge seems to be after 4:00 as people get off work.
The candidates for each local riding are as follows:
Battlefords-Lloydminster-Meadow Lake
- Rosemarie Falk (Conservative Party of Canada)
- Larry Ingram (Liberal Party of Canada)
- Darrell Patan (Canadian Future Party)
- William Petryk (New Democratic Party)
Swift Current-Grasslands-Kindersley
- William Caton (Liberal Party of Canada)
- Maria Rose Lewans (Independent)
- Alex McPhee (New Democratic Party)
- Jeremy Patzer (Conservative Party of Canada)
Carlton Trail-Eagle Creek
- Kelly Block (Conservative Party of Canada)
- Cheryl Loadman (New Democratic Party)
- Katelyn Zimmer (Liberal Party of Canada)
Find more voting information, such as Elections Canada office voting and mail-in voting, here.