It seems Newmarket’s two voting assistance super centres are the best kept secret in town.
On an otherwise bustling Saturday afternoon at the Magna Centre and Ray Twinney Recreation Complex, the Town’s well-staffed voting centres were largely empty of voters.
Voters began casting their electronic ballots online or by telephone on Oct. 13. Official voting day in the 2018 municipal election is today until 8 p.m. As of midnight Saturday, voter turnout was 19 per cent of about 55,000 registered voters.
The centres operate essentially like a paper-ballot polling station. Privacy booths are set up where residents can vote for mayor, regional councillor and deputy mayor, ward councillors and those running for school board trustee positions. Except where paper and pencils used to be, laptops and an internet connection are provided.
An election volunteer at the Magna Centre said that a majority of traffic during their first day was senior residents who don’t have a computer at home, and others who didn’t receive a voter instruction letter.
Computer programmer Karthika Mayuran stopped at the Magna Centre voting centre as part of her weekend errands to get a new PIN because she misplaced her original voter instruction letter.
“Now I need to do my research on the candidates and their platforms because I don’t want to vote blindly,” she said. “I’ll vote at home once I make my decisions.”
Over at the Ray Twinney voting centre, Morgan Foot cast her electronic ballot after updating her address and receiving the PIN and online voting instructions.
“Voting online was easy,” she said, adding that she was particularly motivated to cast her ballot for mayor and Catholic school trustee.
“I think the mayor’s vision for Newmarket is really important and I work in the school system so I’m interested in the trustee position.”
Voting centre staff and volunteers are on hand today from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. to register residents on the municipal voters list, issue new PIN numbers to log in to the voting website if they were misplaced or accidentally thrown out, and answer any technical questions that may pop up during the online voting process.
For example, voters are reminded to place the web address for the voting site in the web browser, and not the Google search bar. Also, do not put ‘www’ in front of the web address.
The voting assistance centres are at the Magna Centre gymnasium, 800 Mulock Dr., and Ray Twinney Recreation Complex, Lounges 1 and 2, 100 Eagle St. W.
Call the Town’s election helpline at 905-953-5121 if you need assistance to vote online or by telephone or visit Vote Newmarket.
Keep checking in with NewmarketToday today for ongoing coverage and results.
