Staff
Election Day finally has arrived and district municipalities will see some new faces among their leaders after tonight.
Here in Fort Frances, voter turnout sat at 41 percent as of 9 a.m. today, with 2,189 people out of the 5,179 eligible voters having cast their ballots by internet or telephone.
Returning officer Lisa Slomke told the Times this morning that she expects voting to “pick up pace” over the course of today.
If you have any issues at all voting, come to the Voter Help Centre set up in Council Chambers at the Civic Centre, which is open today until 8 p.m.
Eligible voters can go there for help voting by internet or phone, as well as to get added to the voting list or replace their voter information letter if they’ve misplaced it.
Just bring along I.D.
Voting will continue until exactly 8 p.m. tonight, but kiosks at the help centre will be open until everyone inside has voted.
“If people want to come down to see the voting results posted this evening, they must be inside Council Chambers before 8 p.m.,” Slomke said.
“We will not make exceptions and let people in after under any circumstances,” she stressed.
She estimated that once voting closes, results will be announced within 30-45 minutes. They will be shown on a screen in Council Chambers, as well as posted on the town’s website.
As previously reported, June Caul and Ken Perry are vying for mayor while Michael Behan, Wendy Brunetta, Clinton Gray, Andrew Hallikas, Harold Huntley, Douglas Judson, John McTaggart, and Rick Wiedenhoeft are running for the six councillor seats.
Stephanie Berger, Michael Graham, Peter Howie, David Kircher, Raymond Roy, and Rudolf Zeitlhofer are vying for the two Fort Frances seats on the Rainy River District School Board.
There is no Fort Frances election for the Northwest Catholic District School Board as candidates Donald Marquis and Cathy Piotrowski will be acclaimed.
Elsewhere in the district, Mike Ford is running against incumbent Mike Hammond to be the next reeve of Alberton Township while Ross Donaldson, Ken Hyatt, Lucille MacDonald, and incumbent Ken McKinnon are in the race for La Vallee reeve.
In Emo, Harold McQuaker, Vince Sheppard, and Michael Loney are running for mayor while Harrold Boven, Lincoln Dunn, Carmon (Dusty) Sheppard, Lori Ann Shortreed, and Warren Toles are vying for the four council seats.
In the Township of Chapple, Robert Barron, Gary Judson, Rilla Race, and Stefan Szeder are running to be reeve.
And in the Town of Rainy River, Larry Armstrong, Susan Carpenter, Paul Caruso, Andrew Hartnell, Brent R. Hegelson, Neil David Ivall, Martin Kreger, Gerry Pasloski, and Pat White, are competing for the six council seats.
Incumbent Deb Ewald was acclaimed as mayor.
Meanwhile, quite a few candidates also are running to be district trustees on the Rainy River District School Board.
Ralph Hill, Kathryn Pierroz, and John Sawatzky are running for the Alberton-La Vallee seat while John Fuhrer and Jan Judson are vying for the seat for Emo-Chapple-Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls.
