A candidate in the upcoming Ward 7 byelection in Windsor is calling on administration to extend the voting period.
As announced by the city on Wednesday, advanced voting will be held from September 29 to October 1 and Saturday, October 3 with the byelection taking place October 5.
In a release, Mike Malott says while he appreciates the additional voting days, he doesn't believe it goes far enough.
"We're asking it to be extended over the course of five days to give people an opportunity to alleviate some fears about line-ups," he says. "People are just concerned that when they show up they‘re going to be waiting in long lines with only one polling station, not multiple polling stations."
Another concern Malott says he is hearing from constituents is about the voting location being outside the ward at the WFCU Centre, which is in Ward 6.
“The calls came in fast and furious, people are still concerned about large groups, confined spaces, being in the hallways, how many people are they going to let in,” he says. "Traditionally there is lower voter turnout during byelections, is this going to drive those numbers down even more?” he questions.
Expanding on the topic of voter turnout, Malott says in talking to a lot of people, unfortunately a byelection isn’t top of mind.
“I’m not saying it’s not important, having a councillor in place in ward 7 is s definitely a priority, we’ve been without one for quite some time but right now there<s bigger fish to fry for some people that have children returning to school, especially in grade school,” he says, adding “yeah, I think voters are distracted.”
The by-election was originally scheduled to take place April 27, but was postponed in March.
There are 12 people running for the vacant Ward 7 seat left vacant when Irek Kusmiericzyk was elected Liberal MP for Windsor-Tecumseh.
— With files from AM800's Rob Hindi