Voters head to polls in 10 municipal byelections

People in 10 municipalities across the province are heading to the polls to vote in byelections today.

Kim Poffenroth, the province's chief electoral officers, said as of Thursday about 2,000 people had cast their ballots in advanced voting, in elections where about 36,000 people are eligible to vote in total.

While this is nowhere near as much advance voting as the province saw during the last provincial election, Poffenroth said it's in line with previous municipal byelections.

She also expects the ongoing Canada Post strike may have an impact.

"I don't doubt that the fact that the voter information cards have been unable to be delivered as of yet has certainly had an impact on that turnout, potentially," said Poffenroth.

"Historically, the turnout can be quite low, depending on the location and the council position being contested."

Poffenroth said New Brunswickers can go to the Elections N.B. website to find out if there is a race in their municipality, who the candidates are and where they can vote.

Because there are no voter information cards, Poffenroth said poll workers will have to look up each eligible voter manually.

She said this isn't an issue for people who have voted in previous elections, but first-time voters should bring a piece of ID with their name, address and signature.

Voting in these byelections is open to anyone who is a Canadian citizen 18 years of age or older on election day, who has lived in New Brunswick at least 40 days prior to the election and is living in the municipality or ward on election day.

The races

The most consequential of the byelections may be in in Saint John, where 11 candidates are vying for the city councillor position in Ward 3.

That seat was vacated when former councillor David Hickey was elected as a Liberal MLA in the October provincial election.

In Beausoleil, five candidates are competing in the only mayoral race in this slate of municipal byelections.

Belledune, Champdoré, Doaktown, Fundy-St. Martins, Hautes-Terres, Strait Shores, Sunbury-York South and Valley Waters are all holding byelections for council seats.

Hanwell, Lakeland Ridges, Riverview and Shediac all had council seats that were filled by acclamation.

Campobello Island and Tracy both had council seats up for grabs, but no candidates stepped forward.