Borden-Kinkora byelection pushed to Wednesday as storm fallout continues
Vote in District 19 was supposed to be Monday, but Mother Nature objected
Elections P.E.I. officials have confirmed another delay in filling Jamie Fox's vacated provincial seat in Borden-Kinkora, saying voting will now be delayed until Wednesday to let the area recover from a major winter storm.
The byelection in District 19 was supposed to happen Monday, but was pushed to Tuesday before being delayed another day.
"With plows that are still just getting out there and getting to the main roads, let alone the secondary roads, which is mostly District 19, we feel that it's important to delay this yet again until Wednesday," chief electoral officer Tim Garrity told CBC News.
"We have the authority to do that under the Election Act and we just think that it's in the best interest [of] — and for the safety of — all voters and our workers to give them another day to get cleaned up."
Garrity called the road to the byelection "a wild ride." He doesn't remember a vote being postponed by two days.
"Not that I'm aware of, but again, we've not really had many winter elections. We've had several spring elections, but I don't think the weather has ever impacted it by two days, let alone one. So this is something that's new."
On Wednesday, voters who didn't cast a ballot on one of three days of advance voting can head to the polls beginning at 9 a.m. Polls will close at 7 p.m.
Fox resigned as the Progressive Conservative MLA for the district in November, and has since secured the nomination to run for the Conservatives in the next federal election.
The PCs have 21 seats in the legislature going into the byelection. The Liberals have three and form the Official Opposition, and the Green Party two.