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Hundreds of Nunavummiut vote early

Heavy voter turnout at advance polls

JIM BELL

Feb. 16 is election day, and the end to a five-week campaign (FILE PHOTO)

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When polling stations open at 9 a.m. on Feb. 16, more than 1,000 Nunavummiut will have already voted.

That's because hundreds of people took advantage of a provision in Nunavut's new Election Act that allows voters to cast ballots at an advance poll or at the office of their local returning officer between Feb. 2 and Feb. 12.

"I'm really glad we did it. We're finding that voting in the office of the returning officer has turned out to be popular," said Sandy Kusugak, Nunavut's chief electoral officer.

As of this past Tuesday afternoon, 674 people had voted in advance polls, and 261 people had voted at the office of the returning officer.

Another 166 people have already voted in mobile polls set up to help people who are confined to their homes, and 86 "special ballots" had been mailed in by southern-based students and correctional centre inmates.

Kusugak said that by the end of the day on Feb. 12, it's likely that many more people will have cast ballots at the offices of returning officers.

This new provision, which allows larger numbers of people to vote early, is designed to lessen the likelihood of long, frustrating line-ups and waiting periods on election day.

Despite the heavy voter turnout during the pre-election period, Kusugak said she can't make any predictions about the eventual size of Nunavut's voter turnout on election day.

Polling stations across Nunavut will open at 9 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. on Feb. 16.

This year, Elections Nunavut will use a new registry of voters, kept in a permanent computer database, and put together from scratch over the past several months.

People whose names appeared on the old voters' lists used in 1999 will not see their names automatically transferred to the new registry - all voters must be registered again.

Eligible voters whose names do not appear on the registry as of election day will be registered at the polling station before they vote.

Right now, it's too soon to estimate how many eligible voters have yet to register, and whether this could produce longer waiting times on voting day.

To be eligible to vote, you must be a Canadian citizen, 18 years old by election day, and a resident of Nunavut for at least 12 months before election day.

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