EDMONTON- Election Day has finally arrived. The polls opened up to Edmontonians at 9:00 Monday morning.
ELECTION RESULTS: Click here for live Edmonton election results
Among those casting their ballots Monday morning was mayoral candidate Karen Leibovici, who says her nerves woke her up at 4:30 a.m. Despite the nerves, she says she’s excited and feeling very positive.
“The feedback I’ve been getting from across the city has been fabulous,” she explained. “I can tell you that people know who I am, they know what my track record is about and they want experience in the mayor’s chair right now.”
Also casting his ballot Monday was fellow mayoral candidate Don Iveson, who said he’s feeling anxious but optimistic.
“In almost every way this campaign has gone better than I thought it would and that’s thanks to the extraordinary efforts of my volunteers to contact tens of thousands- now hundreds of thousands- of Edmontonians to connect with them and try to get them excited about the future of Edmonton.”
Fellow front-runner Kerry Diotte cast his ballot in the advance polls on Friday.
“I certainly think that people are getting the message about the main issues in the campaign. It’s roads, debt, taxation, the arena deal,” he said. “And I think that there’s a great majority, silent majority, out there that are really ready for a change.”
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With two-thirds of polling stations reporting, as of 11:00 a.m. Monday about 18,170 people had voted in Edmonton.
As of 4:00 p.m., 83,477 voters had cast their ballots in the 2013 Edmonton Election on Election Day. This is an increase of seven per cent from 2010 when 77,947 citizens cast ballots as of 4:00 p.m.Including the advance polls, as of 4:00 p.m. Monday, 106, 553 Edmontonians had voted in the 2013 Edmonton Election.
“That is a fairly good turnout for this hour of the day,” said Alayne Sinclair, returning officer with Edmonton Elections. “It’s a great day for an election. The weather out there should not impede anybody’s ability to get to a voting station.”
Once the votes are tallied, Edmonton will have a new mayor and at least six new councillors. With that amount of turnaround on council, some voters say it makes it that much more important to have their voices heard.
“I think there’s a lot of change expected at council; and we’ve had a really, really strong council for a long time and I think people are really concerned, or really aware that we need to make good choices this time around to ensure that what the previous council has brought to Edmonton is going to continue,” said Edmontonian Erick Ambtan.
“The interest level was way up there,” said M.J. Thompson. “Because I want a new mayor and new councillors… and I hope the right one.”
“It’s going to be a learning curve for them, because we’ve got not only a new mayor, but we’ve got a lot of new councillors as well. So we don’t know exactly how things will unfold,” said Darlene Konduc, who added it’s a privilege to be able to vote.
“If you don’t vote… you can’t say anything. You may as well keep your mouth shut.”
Polls close at 8:00 p.m. in Edmonton. For a full list of voting locations, visit the City of Edmonton’s website.
Voters must bring with them a piece of identification with their name and address on it. A driver’s licence, utility bill, cancelled cheque, bank statement or lease statement will all be accepted as proper identification.
Global News will have up-to-the-minute live Edmonton election results online, as well as live streaming video and a live blog beginning Monday at 8 p.m. when polls close.
In 2010 voter turnout in Edmonton was 33.4 per cent, with 199,359 citizens casting ballots.
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