Mail-in ballot requests surging for N.L. election

Requests for mail-in ballots in the upcoming provincial election are soaring, according to Newfoundland and Labrador'schief electoral officer, who credits the pandemicwithcausing a shift in voting habits.

Elections NL workers usually field about 300 such requestsin a regular election. In the far-from-normal circumstances of 2021, those requestshavespiked, with 3,000 applications in for the special ballots so far.

Staff saw the wave coming, as the pandemic axed typical home visits for seniors to voteand travel restrictions continue to create logistical challenges for rotational workers.

"As we anticipated, we are getting a lot more volume of mail-out ballots than we ever had before," said chief electoral officerBruce Chaulk.

To keep on top of the extra votes, Elections NL staff turned extra warehouse space into a processing centre, where mail-in ballot applications are approved and sent out, and completed ballots are received and sorted. All that work has meant adding bodies to the election effort.

"Everybody that we have working in this particular facility herewouldn't be working, because we normally would've beenable to handle the mail-out process with the normal staff thatwe have," Chaulk said Tuesday.

Want in? There's still time

Those employees will stay busy for several weeks yet ahead of the Feb. 13 election. People can still request a mail-in ballot until 4 p.m. on Feb. 2.

For anyone in unusual or remote living arrangements, Elections NL will mail those ballots wherever they can, with Chaulk saying some have been flown by helicopter to the Hibernia offshore platform.

One perennially popular ballot destination, however, isn't so hot in an era of non-essential travel.

"We're not seeing as many kits mailed to the snowbirds in Florida. We're getting very few that are actually going outside the country," said Chaulk.

• Check out our entire Newfoundland and Labrador Votes coverage here

Elections staff will send out mail-in ballots until Feb. 4. The kits include an pre-stamped Xpresspost envelope for return,and all ballots have a strict deadline to make it back to the St. John's processing centre.

"We need all of them back by about the ninth of Februaryin order to have them counted by election day, because the law requires the special ballots to be counted by election day," Chaulk said.

Mail-in ballots can also be dropped off, in person, at any of the 60 Elections NL district offices across the province by Feb. 7, he added.Or, ifpeople want to get a jump on their say in the electoral process, they canvote in person at the district offices right up until advance polling day, on Feb. 6.

One caveat to mail-in ballots: if someone does request one and it's sent out,their name is then struck from the voters' list, meaning if they don't fill it out and return that ballot, they can't do so atany other poll.

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