Voting ran smoothly at the vast majority of polling stations across the province but Elections Ontario said that technical issues were reported at a handful of locations.
According to a spokesperson for Elections Ontario, 99.57 per cent of technology-enabled got up and running but technical issues have been reported at “a few voting locations.”
One voter who spoke to CP24 on Thursday morning said that he was unable to vote at a poll at Our Lady of Fatima Elementary School on St. Clair Avenue after workers there were unable to find his name in the system.
Elections Ontario, however, told CP24 that poll officials were reverting “to the traditional paper method of servicing electors” in the event of any technical issues and will not be turning voters away.
“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. This includes using a paper list of electors, where the poll official will manually strike-off the elector who has voted and will manually update a paper copy to identify the strike-offs. All staff are trained on this contingency process,” spokesperson Cara Des Granges said in a emailed statement provided to CP24 on Thursday morning.
In addition to technical issues at some polling stations, Elections Ontario has also changed the location of three polls, including two in Toronto.
Voters in Scarborough-Guildwood who were supposed to vote at May Tower 2 on Lee Centre Driver are now being redirected to May Tower 1 on Lee Centre Drive while voters in York South-Weston who were assigned to vote at Falstaff Community Center are now being directed to vote at Weston Public Library.
Elections Ontario has also extended the voting hours at three polling stations, including one in Toronto.
The affected polls are as follows:
- Glengarry-Prescott-Russell - Poll 012 - Poll will close at 10:30 p.m. (ET)
- York South-Weston - Poll 406 - Poll will close at 9:40 p.m. (ET)
- Kiiwetinoong - Poll 032 - Poll will close at 12 a.m. (CT)
- Bay of Quinte - Poll 006 - Poll will close at 9:25 p.m. (ET)
- Essex - Poll 033 - Poll will close at 9:20 p.m. (ET)
- Simcoe North - Polls 33 and 34 - Will close at 9:24 p.m. (ET)
- York Simcoe - Polls 006 and 008 - Will close at 11:25 and 9:55 p.m. (ET)
Elections Ontario said that results in each affected riding would not be released until all polls were closed, including any with extended hours.