By Pepper Parr
April 18th, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
Maybe the debates made it happen.
Whatever it is – people are out trying to cast their ballots.
One reader waited an hour at Nelson High School – gave up said they will try again on Saturday.
We are waiting to see what the pollsters have to say late Saturday.
Nelson High School parking lot at 5:00 pm this afternoon
According to Elections Canada over 7 million votes were cast in the 4 days of advanced voting ! WOW
I wonder does that bode well for one party more than any other.
We had a wait of over an hour and a half to cast our vote. However, chairs were provided and conversations kept spirits high. The long lines meant that people were taking this election seriously and waiting for a relatively short time was worth it to make sure this election counts.
I waited close to 2hours at the Burlington Art Gallery yesterday. I was told when I entered the building that there would be a minimum 1 hour wait. I stayed, my husband left. He decided to go today before the polls open at 9am to perhaps not have to wait.
The problem in our polling station was that there were only 3 stations each with only 1 person doing all the work. I was told that in the past there were 2 people at each polling desk however this time the government would only allow 1. Perhaps having advanced polling on a Statutory Holiday weekend where people are paid time and a half could be the reason?
Unlike the Provincial election where everything was done automatically this time around everything has to be done manually.
First they check your name off the official list of voters after checking your photo ID. Then they have to tear the ballot off manually which they hand to you. You go into the booth and mark your ballot, after that you come back to the desk where a portion of the ballot is removed and given back to you so that you can manually put the ballot in the box. NO WONDER people are having to wait hours
to vote.
The one bright spot was that one of the supervisors was going around offering wrapped mini easter eggs to those waiting in line ( until they quickly ran out).
I did not take one and I jokingly told her “I don’t take bribes”. We all had a good laugh.
It is now 9:50 am and my husband who left the house at 8:30am is still not home. We live a 10 minute walk to the Burlington Art Gallery.
Always a negative! I went today, Easter Sunday, and had absolutely no wait time at all. Of the three tables there to process voters two were occupied and one not. So according to your logic they were overstaffed. The general polling station workers (junior to deputy returning officer) are paid between $17 and $20 an hour. That’s pretty much minimum wage. On Statutory Holidays (Good Friday and Easter Sunday) they get time and a half ($25.50 – $30.00). Hardly exorbitant. I doubt the extra cost to be paid to workers due to working on statutory holidays worked into the equation as regards to number of personnel. Why do I doubt that? Well, the campaign only lasts about a month this time around. That’s roughly half the time of previous campaigns. So the polling station personnel budget for this election would likely be way less than previous elections.