Montreal voters face delays at advance polling booths

Some voters at Montreal's advance polling stations waited as long as two hours on Friday to cast their ballots.

lection Montral said this is the first time it has opened advance polls on a Friday.

The organization said it did not anticipate such a heavy weekday turnout for this pilot project, and were unable to cope with the volumeof people thatcame out.

"Obviously we got this morning more people than we expected.I have to remind people that the real advance poll is on Sunday, saidlectionMontralspokesman,PierreLaporte.

Laporte said 670 polling stations will open Sunday, however, on the three weekday votes there is only one place to vote in each borough.

Some voters angered

Some potential voters walked away angry because ofthe long wait, while others left without voting when they heard how much time it would take to cast a ballot.

"If it's an additional day of voting then elections Montreal should have made necessary arrangements to have the resources to accommodate people who want to vote today," said Russell Copeman, who's running for borough mayor in Cte-des-NeigesNotre-Dame-de-Grce.

Advance polling stations will be open at borough election offices on thefollowing days:

• Friday, Oct.25, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Monday, Oct.28, from, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Tuesday, Oct.29, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Sunday, October 27, from noon to 8 p.m.