"No apologies" for not voting: sunny skies, city crews are on their way to Winnipeg voters

Today, Winnipeggers are choosing who will lead this city over the next four years – and whether Portage and Main should reopen to pedestrians – and there is no excuse for not going there.

You certainly can not blame the weather. CBC Manitoba meteorologist John Sauder predicts clear, sunny skies with a high of 10 ° C.

And the polls are open from 8:00 to 20:00. so there is a lot of time left.

"I think it's still a great day to vote and vote, but it's certainly not an excuse today," said Marc Lemoine, the city's chief electoral officer.

For sports fans, there is an additional reason to go out early and leave your mark. The Winnipeg Jets host the Toronto Maple Leafs at Bell MTS Place starting at 6 pm – two hours before the closing of the polls.

In fact, it is in your interest to do it earlier, to avoid queues.

New Canadians, people who have just become Canadian citizens, you see them come and vote in our waiting room, some of them are so moved that they collapse in tears.– Marc Lemoine

"There is always a lot of people in the evening, the last time [in 2014] 200,000 people went to the polls, including 100,000 between 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm, "Lemoine said.

However, a record number of early voters may reduce waiting times. This year, nearly 40,000 people voted in advance, an increase of 30% over the 2014 elections.

Brian Bowman arrives at his polling station on Wednesday to vote. (Jeff Stapleton / CBC)

If you can not go out before the start of the Jets game, "take your smartphone and watch the Jets on your phone while waiting to vote," Lemoine suggested.

Before the match, Winnipeg rock legend Randy Bachman will play True North Square as part of a pre-match televised concert with Doc Walker and Terra Lightfoot.

Deal with minor disasters

Election Day is one of Lemoine's favorites, a day when people in Winnipeg have the opportunity to determine where they are going.

"Many people, you know, take vote for granted here in Canada, but when you hold an election, you can see so many beautiful things happening … new Canadians, new Canadians, you see them come vote in our waiting room, some of them are so moved that they burst into tears, "he said.

Of course, things do not always go as well as he would like.

"In the last election, one of the places caught on fire – or right next to it, just before the start of election day, so we had to deal with it," Lemoine said.

"We had a few power outages during the day that we had to deal with, so there are always issues to deal with, and then a lot of people's problems too, you just know we can handle people who are outside. "

To reduce these obstacles or correct them as quickly as possible, Lemoine employs 2,500 election workers and "borrows about 125 city directors and sends them on the ground as well … so that everyone gets the rights they deserve".

The city sent 510,000 voter cards – containing information about the locations of polling stations – to people registered to vote. To find out if you are on the voting list, you can search on the city's website using your name, address and date of birth.

If your name is not on the list and you meet the eligibility criteria, you can still vote by presenting your identity card and swearing an oath at the polling station.

To find your voting location, visit the City's Web page Where do I vote?

Whether or not you have an elector card, everyone must provide proof of their name and current address by presenting a piece of identification. An ID photo is not required.

Here's what you need to bring: Identification requirements to vote.

To vote, you must be a Canadian citizen, be at least 18 years old and reside in Winnipeg or have owned a property for at least six months.

Polling stations close at 8 pm, although anyone online at that time has the opportunity to vote. As voting machines are automated, the results should probably begin to go live within 15 minutes, Lemoine said.

"Once everyone in each polling place has finished voting, the operator there will press the button on the machine and the actual results will be printed so the tellers can see the results," he said. he declared.

"The digital results will be broadcast to City Hall where we will combine them and post them on our website."