Winnipeggers cast votes for new mayor, councillors

Municipal elections are underway across Manitoba and voters, such asMila Rapajon, went to the polls Wednesday to cast a vote.

"I just want to exercise my right, and as a Canadian citizen, it's your right to vote," she told CBC News aftermarking her ballot at a polling station inside the Maples Community Centre in northwest Winnipeg.

Despite her conviction about her civic duty, she was not certain about who should get her support.

"All the candidates say 'I'll do this, I'll do that,' but when they're in the positionthey forget all about it. So when I vote, I guess:eeny, meeny, miny, moe."

Polling stations 198 of them opened at 8 a.m. at sites across the provincial capital and closed at 8 p.m.

CBC will host a live Winnipeg election results show, which you can watch on our website, our Facebook page and on CBCTVand CBC Gem. Programmingis scheduled from8 p.m. until 10 p.m. but will go longer, if necessary.

Like Rapajon,Henry Dow asserted the need to mark a ballot.

"Of course it's important to vote. It's the only way I've got any say in it, in our system," he said outside the Maples polling station.

Asked what changes he's looking forward to seeing, Dow was blunt: "An honest politician."

David Kroekersaid voting is how he can have a say in decisions made at city hall.

"If you don't vote, you've got no room to cry" when decisions you don't agree with are made by the elected officials, he said.

"People fought wars so we could vote. That's why I vote," said Colleen Kroeker, his wife.

A sample notice the city made up as an example includedan imaginary voter named Willow Rosenberg the nameof a witch from the TV showBuffy the Vampire Slayer.

"Whatever we can do to get people out to the polls, right? That's what I'm all about," Lemoine said.

People in Winnipeg will be choosinganew mayor for the first time since 2014 and arecord numberalready cast their ballots in advance polling.

There was also an increase in the number of people voting by mail, with about 800 this year compared to 200 in the last civic election, Lemoine said.

Adele and Sheldon Globerman, who voted in The Maples, applauded the efforts to increase voting opportunities through advance polls in shopping malls and other public places, but they would also like the opportunity to vote online.

"You can do everything else online these days. You should be able to vote as well," Sheldon Globerman said.

Voting machines tested

Prior to polls opening for Wednesday, election officials tested all the city's voting machines with 50,000 premarked ballots and the results were perfect, Lemoine said.

"So we're very confident in terms of the results coming out of those machines," he said.

Ballot counting started after polls closed at 8 p.m., Lemoine said, beginning with advance ballots, then moving on to votes cast on election day.

Once results are in at each station, election workers will drive the final results over to city hall then they get posted online.

First results are expected between 8:15 and 8:30 p.m., while the bulk of the results are expected by around 9:15 p.m., Lemoine said. All the results should be in by around 9:45 p.m.

For Winnipeg voters still trying to decidewho should be the city'snext mayor, you can check out this list of what the candidates have promised and these one-on-one interviews with CBC.

Five of the candidates also participated in CBC's mayoral candidates debate last week, whichyou can watchhere.

New councillors coming

On top of electing a new mayor, Winnipeggersalso votedfor city councillors in 13 of 15 wards.

The other two were elected by acclamationafter no one ran against them.

Wards with races include Transcona, where a sitting councillor faces his predecessor, and Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood and St. James, where the competitions are wide open because their incumbents are running for mayor meaning Winnipeg is guaranteed to get at least two new councillors.

The other wards that will elect councillors are Daniel McIntyre, Elmwood-East Kildonan, Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry, Mynarski, North Kildonan, Point Douglas, River Heights-Fort Garry, St. Boniface, St. Vital and Waverley West.

School trustee controversy

You can read the full list of who's running for school trustee in Winnipeg on the city's website.

Those races haven't been without controversy. It's believed at least a dozen people running for school trustee positions in Winnipeg are vocal critics of pandemic-era restrictions, some of whom gained widespread notoriety for their dissent.

Concerns have also been raised about Manitoba's election laws related to school trustee races, since the current rules don't require disclosure about who's financing a campaign.

• Read more from CBC on the 2022 Winnipeg election

Rural races heating up

Almost half of Manitoba's municipalities holding elections this year will see their head of council eithermayors or reeves elected by acclamation.

But the city of Brandonis among those with a mayoral race the first in Manitoba's second-largest city since2014. Residents there are guaranteed to elect a new mayor, as Rick Chrest isn't running for re-election.

So are several other communities across the province, from Portage la Prairie and Dauphin in southwest Manitoba to Flin Flon, The Pas and Lynn Lake in the north.

Meanwhile, the mayoral race in the southern Manitoba city of Winklerwill see a city councillor face off against a man who failed to turn the communityinto a sanctuary city immune from pandemic restrictions.

Winnipeggers vote for new mayor, councillors

2 years ago

Duration 1:31

Polls close in Manitoba in 2 hours as Manitobans vote for mayors, councillors and school trustees. WE take a look at what the day was like at the polls.