Van brings the ballots to voters

By The Chronicle-Journal
Thunder Bay Votes - Thunder Bay Votes 2010
City of Thunder Bay election co-ordinator Marcy Vallelunga leans on the city’s brand new mobile voting van. The vehicle is designed to increase awareness for the Oct. 25 municipal election as well as be used as an actual polling for advance voting Oct. 12-16. (The Chronicle-Journal)
City of Thunder Bay election co-ordinator Marcy Vallelunga leans on the city’s brand new mobile voting van. The vehicle is designed to increase awareness for the Oct. 25 municipal election as well as be used as an actual polling for advance voting Oct. 12-16. (The Chronicle-Journal)

For the first time in the city’s history, Thunder Bay’s electorate will be able to vote on the go.
The City of Thunder Bay’s mobile advance polling station will be put to work starting Tuesday using a van in which voters can cast ballots at various locations around the city.
City clerk and election returning officer John Hannam says the van has two purposes — get more people to vote and advertise the Oct. 25 municipal elections.
“We will have the van out on the streets with election signs reminding people the city election is happening in a few weeks,” he said last month when the van was unveiled.
People will be able to vote in the van at their convenience while on their way to work or running errands, for example, Hannam said. The idea of a mobile polling station came to him after the low voter turnout in the 2006 elections.
“We only had 38 1/2 per cent turnout, one of the lowest on record,” Hannam said.
“It dawned on me then, that instead of getting people to the polling station, we should bring the polling station to them.”
The hope is that more people will vote, but Hannam said there’s no sure-fire way to increase voter turnout.
The following is the schedule for advance polls at the mobile voting van:

  • Tuesday, Oct. 12, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at Interim Long Term Care (at the James Street provincial government building).
  • Wednesday, Oct. 13, 8 p.m.-11 a.m. at TBayTel on Tungsten Street.
  • Wednesday, Oct. 13, 12:30-6 p.m. at the WSIB/Investors Group Building on Jace Court.
  • Thursday, Oct. 14, 8 a.m.-12 p.m. at Balmoral Commons.
  • Thursday, Oct. 14, 1:30-6 p.m. at Lakehead University.
  • Friday, Oct. 15, 8-11:30 a.m. at Confederation College.
  • Friday, Oct. 15, 1-5 p.m. on St. Paul’s Street in front of the Whalen Building.
  • Saturday, Oct. 16, 10-8 p.m. in the Intercity Shopping Centre parking lot (corner of Isabel St. & Memorial Ave.).