Questions have been raised by town residents as to why Athabasca County and the Town of Athabasca’s advance polls will land on the same day and whether, for some, the dates are advanced enough.
Athabasca County has an advance poll date set for Oct. 19, and so does the Town of Athabasca. Last week, the county added an Oct. 15 advance poll.
Town council voted on July 18 to appoint Melody Wolansky the returning officer for the town.
That motion read, “that assistant chief administrative officer Melody Wolansky be appointed as the returning officer for the 2013 general election; that the advanced poll for the 2013 election be set as Oct. 19, 2013 …”
Wolansky was unavailable for comment, but deputy returning officer Tammy Makar believed it was council that decided on the Oct. 19 advance vote day.
“Typically we would have it … a week or so prior to that, but with it being a long weekend the weekend prior, lots of people go away, so that’s why council decided on the 19th,” said Makar.
Town of Athabasca Mayor Roger Morrill said it was Wolansky who recommended the Oct. 19 date.
“The returning officer sets that date … but (council) did not set that date. The motion primarily was to appoint Melody (Wolansky) as the returning officer, and I’m sure that was her recommendation.
“I’m certain that was the date that she said should happen for whatever reason, and I find it a little surprising, too, that the county has the same date, so it tells me probably it had something to do with the logistics of the vote,” said Morrill.
“I know for a fact that this council did not sit down with a calendar and come up with a date … (Wolansky) is the one who set that date.”
Athabasca County decided independently on its Oct. 19 advance vote.
County manager Gary Buchanan is the county’s returning officer for this municipal election.
Buchanan said as returning officer, he made the decision on Oct. 7 to implement the Oct. 19 advance poll.
He said there was no collaboration between the town and county to establish the same Oct. 19 advance poll.
“The decision to hold the advance vote on Oct. 19 was made independently from the town,” said Buchanan.
Athabasca County recently announced it has added today (Oct. 15) as an advance poll date at the county office only, and that it has added the Boyle Community Centre as a third voting location for the Oct. 19 advance poll (the other two locations are the county office and Grassland Community Centre).
Buchanan would not speculate on whether six days between the first advance poll (Oct. 15) and the Oct. 21 election day would be enough, but he believes it will benefit more residents who work shift work.
“The county has added an additional day for the advance vote to allow those who work shift work with a greater opportunity to vote,” said Buchanan. “The shift work issue has no easy solution because there (are) many different shift work schedules to take into account.”
Buchanan said of the limited number of voting stations in the county that it was “past experience and local need” that helped determine the advance poll locations.
“This year, three (on Oct. 19) seems to meet the needs of the county. The number of people who use the advanced poll this election will be used to determine what the need is next election,” he said.
