The Chief Electoral Officer says anyone who doesn’t get to vote in the provincial election either left it too late or had no desire to do so.
Bruce Chaulk says an extension to the deadline for special ballots gave people ample opportunity to register by phone, email, or fax. However, he believes many people simply put it off until it was too late.
He says it wasn’t so much people being forced to apply at the last minute. Rather, he says people waited till the last minute, adding the date and time of Friday night’s deadline was widely known but many still procrastinated and missed the cutoff.
Meanwhile, Chaulk disputes criticism from seniors advocate Suzanne Brake that the elderly were disenfranchised in the process. He says he never heard from Brake first nor last.
Chaulk says the call centre was open for 12 hours every day last week to take calls from people without email or computers, adding he’s had no communication with Brake on the issue.
He couldn’t put a precise number on the applications received to date, but he acknowledged it was around 100,000 as of Friday.
Chaulk reiterated that everyone who made the deadline will be able to vote.