Delivery of half a million voter cards has been delayed, says Canada Post

TheStar.com
May 30, 2018
Samantha Beattie

Canada Post is late delivering half a million voter cards one week before the provincial election.

The cards tell voters where, when and how to vote, and were supposed to be delivered by May 25, in time for advance polls opening May 26, said Elections Ontario in a statement Wednesday.

“We rely on our partnership with Canada Post to deliver essential voter information on time,” said Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer Greg Essensa in the statement. “We are clearly disappointed that we have not received the level of service that we have come to expect from our long-standing partner.”

Canada Post expected to have the cards in the mail by end of day Wednesday, and said it experienced a “mechanized process failure,” and processed the batch manually. It is now investigating the cause, but has delivered the 8.5 million other cards successfully.

“We apologize to Elections Ontario and to anyone who has yet to receive their voter card for any delay,” said spokesperson Phil Legault in a statement.

In an email Tuesday, Canada Post said it was confident all voters would receive the card in time for the June 7 election.

Voters can still cast their ballot without a card by bringing one piece of identification that shows their name and current residential address.

Kerry Cathers has lived in the same Toronto apartment for 15 years and as of Wednesday afternoon had yet to receive her card.

She said she called Elections Ontario earlier in the week and the representative told her they’d received many reports of people not receiving their cards.

“It’s a little bit disturbing because people might not show up to vote,” Cathers said, noting she’ll go to her voting station regardless, but worries others aren’t aware they don’t need a card.

Ballots can be cast in person, by mail or by home visit until June 6. Polls will be open June 7 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. More information, including voting locations and acceptable identification, is available at elections.on.ca or 1-888-668-8683.