Questions over spoiled ballots in Regina advanced voting

Concerns were raised when a ballot was allegedly marked before the voter received it at the South Leisure Centre during advanced voting this week.

A couple, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed their ballots had markings on them – one even saying a spot was already filled in for a vote on the school board.

Chief Returning Officer Jim Nicol said he has been informed of the incident but wasn’t sure why the ballot was already marked.

“What I can tell you, which is what I think the most important thing is that vote did not go through the vote counting machine,” Nicol said. “It will have no impact on the final vote tally.”

Nicol said the individual was issued a new ballot. Each ballot is numbered, so the “spoiled” ballot does not get destroyed but gets put into a marked envelope that is used to balance the total number of ballots issued.

“This is the first incident I’ve heard of any issue of this.”

While Nicol couldn’t say with 100 per cent certainty that it wouldn’t happen again, he did call it an anomaly.

 ADVANCE VOTING TURNOUT

As of 8:00 p.m. Thursday night, 4,580 ballots had been cast during the first two days of advance voting.

While Nicol said it’s difficult to compare this year’s voter turnout to the last one because the advance polls were in different locations, he feels they are on-par or slightly higher than the last election.

Breakdown of where the votes have been cast:

City Hall – 446

City Hall drive-thru – 311

South Leisure Centre – 793

Northwest leisure Centre – 1,032

Northgate – 849

Victoria Square – 1,149