Staff are being pulled from departments across the City of Victoria to respond to a mail-in ballot delivery delay ahead of Saturday’s civic election. The city said over the past couple of days, staff have responded to more than 700 people worried about the delay. “It is really all hands on deck,” chief election officer Curt Kingsley told CTV News. Staff have emailed more than 2,100 people who registered to vote by mail. They’ve called another 50 who indicated telephone was their preferred contact method. “Voters are understandably frustrated,” Kingsley said. “We understand why they rely on the mail ballot service and how important it is to them, which is why we’re doing everything that we can to try to assist them.” Kingsley and other staff members are hand-delivering ballots to some voters and bringing the marked and sealed packages back to city hall. He said it’s too late for voters to return their ballots by mail, so they should bring them directly to the drop box at the city hall entrance on Pandora Avenue. They can also skip the line on general voting day and submit their mail ballot at a polling station. Down to the wire The city is still trying to understand exactly what went wrong. Late last week, it discovered 2,300 mail-in ballots had been sitting in a Canada Post warehouse for several days. Canada Post said the delivery delay was over a form that hadn’t been signed. Kingsley said that doesn’t align with the process for previous elections, and his team was never made aware of the form. “While there were complications, it was sorted out and the mail is being delivered,” Canada Post spokesperson Phil Legault said on Wednesday. One Victoria resident said she received her voting package on Thursday at noon, two days before the election. She delivered her marked ballot to city hall two hours after receiving it. “Things are supposed to go smoothly,” said Nina Causer, who uses a mobility scooter. “With my disability, for me to stand in a line on regular voting day is too much.” The Victoria Firefighters Association said off-duty members are also available to help. “We can either come pick you up and take you to any of the polling stations available, or we will hand-deliver your sealed ballot for you to city hall,” said IAFF Local 730 president Josh Montgomery. “We’re just looking to help the people in Victoria and ensure that every Victorian gets a vote.” Kingsley said the best way for people to ensure their votes get counted is to email the city’s elections team at elections@victoria.ca. Polls close at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
