Canada Post workers have gone on strike in the midst of municipal and provincial elections in Newfoundland and Labrador, leaving officials racing to find contingency plans for mail-in ballots.
Kristina Ennis said there are plenty of people who vote by mail in the St. John’s West district, where she is running as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the general provincial election on Oct. 14.
“I hope that people are afforded their opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” she said in an interview.
Elections NL said it has prepared for a strike.
“We planned for a postal strike, and consulted with other provinces who have had elections impacted by postal strikes,” said spokesperson Claire Carter in an email.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers launched the strike Thursday after Ottawa announced it would allow the Crown corporation to take bold steps to shore up its struggling finances, including terminating daily door-to-door delivery.
The strike’s timing was “particularly challenging,” said an update on the City of St. John’s website Friday. Municipal elections are scheduled for Oct. 2. Many voters returned their mail-by-vote kits by the Sept. 24 deadline, the city said, adding that some may be caught in the Canada Post system.
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Protecting residents’ democratic right to vote is a “top priority,” the city said. “The city is actively developing a contingency plan to address this unexpected situation.”
In the nearby town of Paradise, officials are asking residents to put their mail-in ballots in a drop box outside a local arena.
The provincial elections authority had mailed about 150 voting kits before the strike announcement Thursday evening, Carter said. The office was contacting those voters to offer alternative arrangements and cancel the vote-by-mail packages.
Elections NL will also increase early voting hours over the next two weekends, she said.
Problems with mail-in voting are familiar in Newfoundland and Labrador. The 2021 provincial election was challenged in court after officials cancelled in-person voting and switched to mail-in ballots following an outbreak of COVID-19. One challenge was led by a voter in the St. John’s area who said he never received a mail-in ballot.
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