Canada election: TCDSB trustees vote against allowing polling stations in schools

Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) trustees have voted against allowing polling stations in schools for the Canadian federal election.

A TCDSB spokesperson said the Board of Trustees voted 6-5 to not allow polling places in the board’s schools “to eliminate any additional risk of COVID-19.”

The resolution says that the TCDSB director will now write a letter to Elections Canada notifying the agency of the vote.

The resolution suggests that commercial buildings, arenas, and public municipal buildings can be among the locations used as polling stations instead.

“For this board to now allow unidentified people to our indoor school facilities would carry more risk to our system, especially with the onset and prevalence of lethal variants,” the resolution reads in part.

While schools have traditionally been used as polling locations in the past, this is not a regular school year given the ongoing pandemic and the measures taken to try to keep the facilities open, the resolution states.