Voters in Lethbridge hit the polls for the 44th general election

Today is the 44th general election in Canada, and a few changes have been made to polling stations to help deal with COVID-19. In Alberta, masks are mandatory in all indoor buildings, physical distancing has been put in place, and each polling station chosen has the requirements for anyone to access. 

Voting in the federal election gives every Canadian citizen the chance to choose what the future holds.

In Lethbridge, voter turnouts for the young demographics have been lower, with those voting on Monday encouraging everyone to do their research ahead of casting their ballot.

With the on-going pandemic, there are no polls set up in schools this year, leaving some residents having to travel across the city. About half of west siders had to travel to the Exhibition Park, while the remaining half were able to vote at the ATB Centre. 

There were 18,248 voters who cast their ballot in advance, that’s up by 16,581 in 2019. 

However, mail-in ballots won’t be counted until Tuesday, meaning the final results could change after then. In a statement from Elections Canada, it reads in part, “Whether returned in person, by mail, or put in special boxes at polling stations, all are brought back to the Returning Office.  They will not be counted on election day. On Tuesday morning, the process to start the count will begin. Given numbers, the vast majority of ridings will be able to complete the ballot  verifications process on Tuesday, and start counting, with the vast majority done counting by end of day Wednesday.”

If you haven’t voted yet, you do still have a little bit of time, polls in Alberta close at 7:30 p.m.