Strong turnout in early polls for the Montreal elections

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Laura Patch and Michael Moody were among the more than 90,000 Montréal residents who voted early in the polls for the weekend municipal elections.

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“I think we’re voting because we have the right,” Patch, 36, said Sunday, after she and Moody, 43, voted at the Sainte-Catherine-de-Sienne school in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. .

Despite the cool and rainy weather, turnout was slightly higher than in 2017, said André Chapleau, a spokesman for Élections Montréal.

By 5 p.m., 8.4 percent of the city’s 1.1 million eligible voters had cast their ballot, he said.

“From the information that we have now, it appears to be a little higher than what we had in the last election,” Chapleau said.

“I think it shows that the choice of Montreal is arousing interest, and we can only be delighted,” he added.

In 2017, 5.6% of voters voted in advance polls, while another 2.5% voted in polls conducted in long-term care facilities or other places for people facing barriers, such as being homeless.

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The total participation rate in the 2017 elections was 42.5%.

This time, people who cannot go to the polls have the option of voting by mail. A total of 6,111 voters had requested mail-in ballots before Wednesday’s deadline, primarily for health reasons.

The polls were open from 9:30 a.m. M. At 8 p. M. Saturdays and Sundays. The schedule will be the same next weekend, when the general elections are held, again for two days.

Candidates vying to form the next administration focused on getting the vote over the weekend.

The contest appears to be one of the closest on record. A Léger poll for the Montreal Gazette and the Journal de Montréal on Thursday shows that incumbent mayor Valérie Plante and former mayor Denis Coderre tied for 36 percent of voters’ intentions, while the Montrealer Movement leader, Balarama Holness, lags behind with 12 percent.

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Patch and Moody, who declined to reveal how they voted, said that while they had an idea of ​​which candidates they were leaning toward, they only made their decision at the last minute.

“When I showed up, I was undecided,” Moody said.

After the difficult times Montréal has been through due to the pandemic, “I am hopeful that things can only get better,” Patch said of his expectations for the city’s next administration.

Bernard, who did not give his last name and also exercised his democratic right in Sainte-Catherine-de-Sienne, said he always votes early in polls to avoid alignments.

He said the closure of Police Station 11 on Somerled Ave. and the closure of Camillien Houde Way and Remembrance Rd. On Mount Royal to cross the city were factors in his decision.

Bernard, 42, French-speaking, thinks Montreal should be bilingual, a table from Holness’s platform.

Bernard also declined to say which candidates he supported.

Montreal voters choose three candidates: for the mayor of Montreal, the mayor of their district, and their local candidate. A total of 340 people, of whom just under half are women, are running for the 103 elected positions.

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