Election Update – Busy Day at Medicine Hat Polling Stations
The Holy Family Parish polling station had a line wrapping around the church Monday afternoon as there appears to be a big turnout for this year’s municipal election. (Photo Alex McCuaig)
It’s been an extremely busy day at city polling stations as line ups have been a feature since mid-day.
Depending on the polling station and time of day, some stations appear to be processing voters through faster than others.
Victory Lutheran Church appears to be processing the line up quickly, though, more Hatters continue to pour through the doors at the dinner hour.
The Kinplex and Veiner Centre polling stations were also moving people through but were busy.
Victory Lutheran Church was processing voters at a quick pace Monday during the start of the dinner hour Monday. (Photo Alex McCuaig)
The Wyndham Gardens polling station had only a couple of voters mid-day but the Owl did witness one senior with mobility issues struggle to navigate the access to the poll aided by a Good Samaritan. The polling station did not have accessibility considerations usually required.
And earlier in the day, there were some other bottlenecks.
The Medicine Hat College polling station appears to have seen both on-duty local first responders and seniors abandon the more than hour long lineup.
Bruce Penton, former editor of the Medicine Hat News, was especially critical having given up at his first attempt to vote at the Holy Family Parish polling station earlier in the afternoon.
Penton stated it didn’t appear to make a difference whether a voter was already on the electoral list or not and the station appeared to be understaffed with multiple open voting stations.
Line ups mid-day at the Big Marble Go Centre appeared to have the longest line ups with wait times well in excess of an hour.
Esplanade and St. Patrick’s Church were busy with long lines but we’re moving in the early afternoon.
Check back with OwlNew.ca for all the latest.
Voters exiting the Kinplex at 5 pm on Monday said the wait was about half an hour. (Photo Alex McCuaig)