By-election

While council passed a bylaw to officially call a byelection Monday, with Jan. 14 set as election day, just how residents will vote for a new councillor still has to be decided.
At Monday night’s meeting, Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig said Clerk Glenn Treftlin has been looking at voting options, and suggested the town use polling stations (where the electorate votes in person) as opposed to a mail-in ballot.
McCaig noted using this more traditional voting system may end up costing at most $12,000, and possibly only $9,000-$10,000, as opposed to mail-in ballots, which costs about $20,000.
“There was some concern about the price of the election. We’ve cut it in half easily by having this type of election,” McCaig said.
If this voting method is chosen, advance polls would be open from Monday, Jan. 7 through Saturday, Jan. 12.
Polls then would be open until 8 p.m. on election day (Jan 14). Volunteer town staff then would count the ballots that night under the supervision of Treftlin.
Residents either could vote in person or, if need be, by proxy.
Voter notification forms would go out immediately after the deadline for nominations (Nov. 30). Eligible voters can vote by proxy at that time in case they’re not gong to be around to vote in person in January.
But Mayor Roy Avis said he had “a strong concern” regarding voting by proxy and wondered if vote-by-mail wasn’t a better system.
He said Fort Frances has many retirees who spend December, January, and February in warmer climates—and they may miss out on voting.
“I don’t think we’re going to get a good cross-section of the community,” Mayor Avis remarked.
McCaig countered that hopefully, since the candidates will be known by Nov. 30, residents who are going away for the winter will be able to arrange to vote by proxy before they leave.
“That will be advertised? We’ll all made aware of that?” questioned the mayor.
“Absolutely. This issue will be given high priority in terms of notification and education,” McCaig assured.
“I have concerns. If we’re going to go to the extent of an election, I don’t think we should change the process we used in the previous election,” said Mayor Avis.
“I think we should stick with it,” he stressed. “If we change now . . . I don’t think we’re being fair to the average citizen.”
McCaig noted the bylaw council was voting on Monday night to declare the byelection only reaffirmed the decision made by council initially made back on Oct. 3, and does not mean the format of the election had to be decided at this time.
Please see “Voting,” A5