Polling Station Glitch Means Slight Delay in Nova Scotia Byelection Results

Nova Scotia's provincial flag flies in Ottawa, July 3, 2020. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

A delay opening a polling station means candidates in a Nova Scotia byelection Tuesday will have to wait a little longer to learn who has won the seat.

Five candidates are vying for the riding of Preston, which was held by Liberal Angela Simmonds until she stepped down in April.

Polling stations in the riding near Halifax opened at 8 a.m., with the exception being the St. Thomas More church in Dartmouth, which saw a 30-minute delay.

An Elections Nova Scotia spokeswoman said that because voting has been extended at that location by half an hour, tabulation of the overall results will not begin until 8:30 p.m. All other polls were to close at 8 p.m.

The electoral slate includes Liberal Carlo Simmons, Progressive Conservative Twila Grosse, Colter Simmonds of the NDP, Charles “Bobby” Taylor of Nova Scotians United and Green Party Leader Anthony Edmonds.

According to the elections agency, the byelection called July 7 saw the first use of an electronic ballot system in Canada during early voting. The system allowed voters to choose a candidate on an electronic tablet in the polling station rather than marking a paper ballot.

However, as planned Elections Nova Scotia has reverted to the use of traditional paper ballots on election day. Officials said 2,166 early votes were cast out in the riding, which has 11,125 registered voters.

The Liberals are trying to retain a seat they have held for most of the past 20 years. In the 2021 provincial election, the Liberals captured 43 percent of the votes in the riding, with the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats almost equally splitting the remaining ballots cast.

Health care, affordable housing, gas prices and economic development were among the main issues during the campaign, which generated some controversy in its closing days.

Last week, Dorothy Rice, Nova Scotia’s chief electoral officer, ordered the Liberals to remove signs and other campaign material that she said contained false statements concerning a potential dump in the riding’s Lake Echo area.

Rice called in the RCMP to assist with a formal investigation under the provincial Elections Act after the Liberals refused to comply with her order. She had acted on a complaint by the Progressive Conservatives over what they said was misleading material wrongly asserting that Premier Tim Houston was doing nothing to stop plans for the dump.

Meanwhile, Rice also asked the Progressive Conservatives to clarify signs that implored local residents to vote against the “Liberal carbon tax” by inserting the word “federal” before Liberal.

Heading into the byelection, the governing Progressive Conservatives hold 31 seats in the provincial legislature, followed by the Liberals with 16 seats, the New Democrats with six and one Independent.