It’s decision day in New Brunswick, as voters head to the polls for municipal elections to choose their local representatives.
Most polling stations across the province will be open until 8 p.m. Monday. Some that had delays in opening will stay open later to make up for lost time.
Voters will be choosing mayors, councillors and district education council members in 77 municipalities.
According to the chief electoral officer, Kim Poffenroth, more than 15 per cent of eligible voters have already cast ballots.
“We’ve had over 92,000 New Brunswickers vote in advance. That includes at the advance polls on May 2 and May 4, and voting at the returning offices,” she said.
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She added that’s a high number, given that municipal elections typically see about 30 per cent turnout overall.
“Hopefully, the turnout at the advance polls is an indicator of higher voter turnout. But it will be interesting to see this as a benchmark for local government elections going forward,” she said.
Since the last municipal elections in 2022, New Brunswick has changed its local government system, reducing the number of local bodies from 340 to 89. Those bodies consist of of 77 municipalities and 12 rural districts.
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The province said the changes were aimed at eliminating redundancies and strengthening co-ordination between municipal and provincial governments.
Many of New Brunswick’s largest cities will have competitive contests, while more than 150 local seats will be filled by acclamation and some seats will be without any candidate.
In Fredericton, former Liberal MP Jenica Atwin is running for mayor against two challengers. Long-time city councillor, Steve Hicks, and former construction worker John Reid are also in the running in the province’s capital city.
Poffenroth said about 550,000 New Brunswickers are eligible to vote in this election.
— with a file from The Canadian Press
Approximately 1 in 5 residents in my region turned out to vote this year.
It would have been nice to have received notification of where I am supposed to vote. I am not traipsing around the countryside looking for the right place.
Friends told me they received a card but I got nothing.🤔🤔