There’s less than two weeks before Election Day in the municipal election and Calgary has a brand new and convenient way for residents to cast their ballots.
Officials have opened a drive-up voting station on Wednesday morning at McMahon Stadium that will now be accepting advance voting.
The station, set up at the east side of the stadium off of Crowchild Trail, is designed so that you won’t even need to get out of your car to cast your ballot.
When drivers pull up to the station, they are directed to one of four polling lanes. Once there, a city election worker is available to check ID, confirm eligibility and determine which Ward the driver will be voting in.
After that, the driver is handed a portable voting booth; a pouch containing all the ballots for mayor, councilor and school board.
Once those are filled out, the election worker will take them to the ballot box or, if the voter wishes, they can get out of their car and deliver the ballots themselves.
Officials say they hope the new station will improve voter turnout.
“The main objective here is the convenience factor to make sure we are where people are, or where they happen to be at any given moment so they can take a couple of minutes of their time and vote,” said Paul Denys with the City of Calgary.
No candidate advertising is allowed anywhere in the parking lot where the station has been set up and that includes anything that could be posted on vehicles. So, if anyone has bumper stickers, flags or anything else connected to any of the candidates, they will have to remove them before voting.
The drive-up station is open from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily until Friday. All other advance polling stations will also open on Wednesday morning, but will remain available until October 11.
The City of Calgary's vote bus will also be open on Wednesday for residents looking to cast an advance ballot. It will be at the 69 Street Station from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and at City Hall from noon until 5:00 p.m.
Election Day is October 16.
