From absences to website issues, voters in Greater Montreal hit roadblocks on election day

Election officials in Laval were left scrambling on election day morning as over 100 employees were absent for duty.

The result: polling in 23 out of 727 polling stations were delayed by up to half an hour.

“When a secretary or scrutineer is absent, the polling station (the voting table) cannot open the ballot box and thus receive a voter until both positions are filled,” a spokesperson for Élections Laval told CityNews in an email statement.

Élections Laval said the lines in all polling stations moved quickly and there was not impact due to the delay. “The closing time for polling stations remains at 8 p.m.,” the spokesperson added.

In Montreal, some voters were sent to the wrong polling station by the Élections Montréal website.

With Canada Post strikes, most voters didn’t receive their electoral cards which specify where they should go to vote. Voters in Montreal also had limited transit options Sunday with STM strike by maintenances entering day two of a month-long disruption.

Earlier La Presse reported that the website gave a wrong location to a voter who walked two kilometres to find out their name was not on the electoral list.

In an email statement, Élections Montréal said that a few cases were reported to them, but that they were able to assist the voter by phone. They didn’t specify how many complaints they received.

“We contacted our service provider and corrections were made to the website very quickly,” the statement added.

As of 4 p.m., 27 per cent of voters in Montreal had cast their ballots.

Polling continues until 8 p.m.