Manitoba votes today. Here’s what you need to know

Manitoba voters head to the polls today as municipal elections begin across the province.

That includes the people of Winnipeg, who will be voting for a new mayor for the first time since 2014.

Polling stations – 198 of them – opened at 8am at locations across the provincial capital and remain open until 8pm

If you stand in line before 8 p.m., you can still cast your ballot, even if the wait lasts past 8 p.m., senior election official and city clerk Marc Lemoine said.

While residents were allowed to visit each location to vote during the primary, voters must go to their assigned location on election day, Lemoine said.

You can find this address in the orange box on the voting notification that you received in the mail. A sample notice the city created included an imaginary voter named Willow Rosenberg—the name of a witch from the television show Buffy the vampire slayer.

“Anything we can do to get people to vote, right? That’s what I’m all about,” Lemoine said.

If you don’t have a voting card, you can also find out where to vote by entering your address this page on the city’s website or by calling 311, Lemoine said.

You can More information on voting can be found here and what to take away

during a Record number of people in Winnipeg already cast their votes in the primary, many still had to vote on Wednesday.

The number of people voting by mail has also increased, at about 800 this year compared to 200 in the last general election, Lemoine said.

Election officials have also already tested all of the city’s voting machines with 50,000 pre-marked ballots — and the results were perfect, Lemoine said.

“So we’re very confident about the results from these machines,” he said.

The counting of ballots begins after polling stations close at 8 p.m., Lemoine said, beginning with the primary and then voting on Election Day.

Once the results are in at each station, poll workers will bring the final results to City Hall – then they will be posted online.

Initial results are expected between 8:15 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., while the majority of results are expected around 9:15 p.m., Lemoine said. All results should be in around 9:45pm

CBC will be hosting a live broadcast of the Winnipeg election results, which you can view on our website. our Facebook page and on CBC Gem. Programming is scheduled from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. but will run longer if needed.

For Winnipeg voters still trying to decide who should be the city’s next mayor, you can check this list of what the candidates have promised and those one-on-ones with CBC.

Five of the candidates also took part in the CBC mayoral candidate debate last week here you can watch.

New councilors arrive at Winnipeg City Hall

In addition to electing a new mayor, the Winnipeggers also elect aldermen in 13 of 15 counties. The other two were elected by acclamation after no one ran into them.

Districts with races include Transcona, where a seated councilor faces his predecessorand Charleswood Tuxedo Westwood and St.Jameswhere the contests are wide open because their incumbents are running for mayor – meaning Winnipeg is guaranteed to get at least two new councilors.

The other wards that will elect councilors are Daniel McIntyre, Elmwood-East Kildonan, Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry, Mynarski, North Kildonan, Point Douglas, River Heights-Fort Garry, St Boniface, St Vital and Waverley West.

Controversy over school leadership

Visit the city’s website to read the full list of Winnipeg school board candidates.

These races were not without controversy. At least a dozen people running for school trustees in Winnipeg are believed to be vocal critics of the pandemic-era restrictions, some of whom have become widely known for their dissent.

Concerns have also been raised about Manitoba’s electoral laws regarding school trustee races, as current rules do not require disclosure of who funds a campaign.

Country races are heating up

In nearly half of Manitoba’s municipalities holding elections this year, their council leader—either mayor or sheriff—will be elected by acclamation.

But the city of Brandon is among those with a mayoral race — the first in Manitoba’s second-largest city since 2014. Residents there are guaranteed to elect a new mayor since Rick Chrest is not running for re-election.

The same is true of several other communities across the province, from Portage la Prairie and Dauphin in southwest Manitoba to Flin Flon, The Pas and Lynn Lake in the north.

Meanwhile, in the mayoral race in the southern Manitoba city of Winkler, a city councilman will face off against a man who has failed to transform the community into a haven immunized from pandemic restrictions.