Long wait times greeting voters at some GTA polling stations

By Michael Ranger

From not enough polling booths in certain ridings to extremely long lineups, voters are trying to navigate many pandemic-related problems on election day.

Elections Canada says there will be fewer polling stations in some ridings across the GTA because of pandemic restrictions, including significantly fewer stations in some specific ridings due to the inability to have stations in places like public schools or apartment buildings. Many polling stations have been moved into more spacious buildings with additional booths.


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Spadina-Fort York is one of the ridings affected, and 680 NEWS has learned that some voters there have had to deal with longer lines than usual. Some report they have had to wait as long as 90 minutes before casting their ballot.

Voters in Toronto Centre reported wait times of over an hour to cast a ballot at the Distillery District polling station.

680 NEWS reporter Richard Southern lives in the Toronto-St. Paul’s riding says that he was greeted by a long line when he went to the polls on Monday.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a line this long voting here over the past 20 or 30 years,” says Southern. “It did move, it was lined up around the block, but it took me just over a half-hour from joining the line until being able to cast my vote.”

Toronto-St. Paul’s is a place where a number of smaller polling stations were combined into fewer larger ones. Elections Canada had anticipated that the ridings with fewer polling stations would not result in longer wait times because those stations would be larger than in previous years.

So what happens when the clock strikes 9:30 p.m. (ET), and you haven’t voted yet?

“Somebody from Elections Canada, usually an information officer, who will come out and stand at the end of the line at 9:30 p.m.,” says Rejean Grenier of Elections Canada.

“Anybody coming after will be turned away. The people who will be in line by 9:30 p.m. will be allowed to go in [and cast a vote].

Some people are getting in and out within 20 minutes but others have had a long wait.

Grenier says results will come in tonight, but counting will also be happening tomorrow.

“Those results might change tomorrow [Tuesday] because tomorrow is when we will start counting the mail-in ballots,” he added. “We have to wait because we have to do a lot of verifications.”

When going to vote, it is recommended that people bring their voter information card and identification with proof of address. Masks are required at all polling stations, and it is also recommended that people get their own pencil or pen to mark their ballots.


With files from 680 NEWS reporter Momin Qureshi

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