Voters reporting issues at some polling stations

Voters across the province are heading to the polls Thursday to select a new government at Queen’s Park, but some are reporting issues at polling stations.

In one case, a voter said her husband tried to vote at their polling station at St. Matthew Catholic School near Old Weston Road and St. Clair Avenue West, in the York South-Weston riding, but was told “the system was down.”

Amy Davis said there were lots of people waiting in line at 11 a.m. Election officials at the station would not elaborate on why the system was down, and when they called Elections Ontario they said they were working on the issue. The issue was resolved around 1 p.m.

Another voter said people were “erroneously” being turned away at the Davenport polling station at Carleton Village Junior and Senior Public School, near Davenport and Old Weston roads.

There were told “they couldn’t vote without [a] voter ID card. They weren’t told they could use ID and proof of address instead,” Jennifer Gillespie tweeted.

But according to Election Ontario’s website, you can still vote if you did not receive a voter card. All you need to bring is a piece of identification that indicates both your name as well as residential address.

Another voter named Lindsay tweeted that her polling station on Oak Street near Gerrard Street East and Bayview Avenue, which is in the Toronto Centre riding, is a residential building where voters had be buzzed in.

“I had to wait for someone to come out the door to be let in to vote,” she tweeted.

When CityNews arrived at the scene, election officials said the issue was resolved.

One voter in the Don Valley North riding said there were several issues at the polling station on Parkway Forest Drive, near Sheppard Avenue East and Highway 404.

“Door to building locked, voting location not clearly marked, staff not helpful. As if people needed another reason to not want to vote. Very disappointing,” Kirby Barber tweeted.

Another voter tweeted that she was waiting at least a half-hour in line at her polling station at Givins Shaw St. Public School, near Queen Street and Ossington Avenue, in the Spadina-Fort York riding.

Elections Ontario said 99.6 per cent of the polls currently using the new scanning and tabulation machines are working as expected.

“The few voting locations that are experiencing technical issues are being addressed if they have not already been rectified,” the organization said in a statement. “In the event of a technical issue, poll officials will revert to the traditional paper method of servicing electors, the same process which is in place at polls where technology is not being used for voting.”

Elections Ontario said it had to extend voting hours at three of the province’s approximately 7,200 polls.

The organization says prolonged voting will happen at poll 406 in the Toronto-area riding of York South-Weston until 9:40 p.m., poll 012 in the eastern Ontario riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell until 10:30 p.m. and poll 032 in the Kiiwetinoong riding in the northwest of the province until midnight.

It has also been extended in Bay of Quinte and Simcoe North to 9:25 p.m., Essex to 9:20 p.m. and York Simcoe to 11:25 p.m.

Voting locations have also changed in two ridings. Voters in the Scarborough-Guildwood riding are being re-directed to May Tower 2 at 11 Lee Centre Drive from May Tower 1.

Voters in the York South-Weston riding who are assigned to vote at Falstaff Community Center are now being directed to the Weston Public Library on 2 King Street.