How long is your wait for early voting in Ottawa?

Residents of Ottawa Centre lined up outside Westgate Shopping Centre to cast their early vote on Friday, April 18 at the advance polls. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIAArticle content

Voters across the Ottawa region complained of long lineups at polling stations on the first day of advance voting, with some saying they faced hour-plus waits to cast their ballot.

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Kevin Ryan was one of those voters who showed up early to his polling station in the Carleton riding only to eventually turn away from a long lineup “that was barely moving.”

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Ryan said he arrived at the polling station — inside a community centre on Shoreline Drive in Gloucester — about 10 minutes after the advance polls opened at 9 a.m. on April 18.

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“The line was only about 15 to 20 people ahead of me and normally that moves fairly quickly,” Ryan said. “When (people) heard the lineup was over an hour, they just turned away.”

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Ryan lodged a formal complaint and said he was told Elections Canada was facing a shortage of polling station workers.

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Ryan also observed an unusual delay in the Carleton riding, where Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is running against a record-tying 90 candidates.

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Ryan said he was told the unusually long ballot had to be folded “in a particular way,” which “took forever” as he watched from the lineup.

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Ryan eventually left the lineup to attend to a prior commitment and returned later Friday, “but the lineup was even longer,” he said.

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“It’s frustrating because if this continues, people aren’t going to be able to vote on Election Day if it takes this long. It needs to get resolved or people are going to miss the boat.”

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Ryan said he won’t be in town Election Day on ApriI 28. “So I hope they straighten it out over the next couple days because I don’t want to line up for an hour and a half.”

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The problem was not restricted to the Carleton riding, however, as long lineups were also seen across the city’s urban core.

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Carolyn Strauss said she was “shivering in the cold” as she waited in line at the MacKay United Church in New Edinburgh Friday morning as advance voting opened.

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A staff member came out of the polling station to inform those in line that they would likely be facing a 90-minute wait.

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“There is one voting booth where you can mark your ballot and they are very understaffed. When you get inside, you have to wait again in another line to vote,” Strauss said.

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Elections Canada spokeswoman Diane Benson said she did not have any information to indicate whether there were shortages in recruiting workers for Ottawa-area polling stations.