Get a head start on voting as advance polls open for Winnipeg election

If you want to vote early in Winnipeg’s municipal election, you can cast your ballot at an advance poll as of Monday morning.

Advance voting — regardless of where you live in the city — can be done weekdays at City Hall’s council building until Oct. 21, with the exception of Thanksgiving Monday.

There will also be advance polls at community centres in all 15 wards, from Oct. 18-20, as well as at the following locations:

• Canada Life Centre, 300 Portage Ave. (Oct. 3-5)
• University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Ave., Room 2M70 – Manitoba Hall (Oct. 4-5)
• Youth for Christ Gymnasium, 333 King St. (Oct. 4-5)
• Grant Park Shopping Centre, 1120 Grant Ave. (Oct. 7-9)
• Kildonan Place Shopping Centre, 1555 Regent Ave. W. (Oct. 7-9)
• CF Polo Park, 1485 Portage Ave. (Oct. 7-9)
• University of Manitoba, 65 Chancellor’s Circle, RM 217 GSA Lounge (Oct. 11-12)
• RRC Polytech, 2055 Notre Dame Ave., Building C, Lower Level (Oct. 12-13)
• IKEA, 500 Sterling Lyon Parkway (Oct. 14-16)
• Garden City Shopping Centre, 2305 McPhillips St. (Oct. 14-16)
• St. Vital Centre, 1225 St. Mary’s Rd. (Oct. 14-16)

There will be 11 candidates to choose from to replace outgoing mayor Brian Bowman, and voters will also select a city councillor and school trustees for their neighbourhoods.

In St. Norbert-Seine River and Old Kildonan, however, incumbent councillors Markus Chambers and Devi Sharma have already been acclaimed, as no one filed papers to run against them by the deadline.

According to the city, advance voting is on the rise — in the last municipal election, a total of 39,840 voters cast their ballots in advance, which was a 30% increase from the previous election in 2014 election, as well as the most advance votes ever cast in Winnipeg.

Election Day is Oct. 26.

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