Voters in the federal Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot can head to the polls in byelection advance voting as early as Friday, Elections Canada says.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is eyeing a return to Parliament after he lost his previous riding of Carleton in April’s federal election.
Poilievre will be up against more than 200 people who are registered to run in the byelection, which is being held on Aug. 18.
The list of candidates include Poilievre, Liberal candidate Darcy Spady, the NDP’s Katherine Swampy, independent candidate Bonnie Critchley and dozens more sponsored by the Longest Ballot Committee, a protest group bringing attention to the issue of electoral reform.
Advance polls will be open from Friday, Aug. 8, to Monday, Aug. 10., the election body said in a press release.
Polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time on each of the four days of advance voting.
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Voters can vote at their assigned polling stations and they can find out the address of their polling stations by reading the back of their voter information card, by visiting elections.ca and entering their postal code or by calling 1-800-463-6868.
Voters can also vote early at the local Elections Canada office in Battle River–Crowfoot until Tuesday, Aug. 12, 6 p.m. local time.
They can also vote early by mail, by applying online by Tuesday, Aug. 12, 6 p.m., and returning their special ballot by mail. If the return envelope is addressed to the local Elections Canada office, they can also drop off their ballot in person at that office before polls close on election day.
Voters in the upcoming Battle River-Crowfoot byelection in eastern Alberta will be required to write out the name of their preferred candidate, Elections Canada said, because of the unusually high number of people running and past challenges with long ballots.
The advocacy group Longest Ballot Committee also targeted Poilievre’s former Ottawa riding of Carleton in the April general election, which he lost, registering some 91 candidates.
— with files from Canadian Press
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