The city will use a hand-counting method during the upcoming municipal election that allows voter counters to accurately count ballots with multiple candidates quickly, allowing for updated results during election night. A voter steps out of a polling station after casting a municipal vote in this October 2017 file photo.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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The city expects it will be able to accurately count by a hand a maximum of 1,600 voter ballots per hour, per team, by utilizing a specialized piece of equipment used to count votes with multiple candidates.
During the Oct. 20 municipal election, election workers will be using a custom made Kangaroo Board to sort and tally ballots quickly and accurately.
The counting method, also known as a grass skirt, was born in the United Kingdom and allows a vote counter to apply 25 voting ballots to a large grid sheet of paper side by side at the exact same position. Then with a ruler the number of votes for each candidate, alphabetically, can be counted.
“So the ballots are laid out in the board horizontally and shingled in a way that shows the voting marks,” Andres Cardona Arias, chief electoral officer, explained during a presentation to a city committee Tuesday afternoon.
“We are taking advantage of the fact that the candidates are printed the exact same way, on every single ballot, so basically you lay them out, 25 at a time, and then you take a ruler … and you count one candidate at a time.”
Arias says the method is “extremely efficient and accurate” and will allow vote counters to complete 25 ballots in seven minutes.
“The best part about it, since it’s bulk counting, we can have multiple counters on this,” he said. “We’re outputting a maximum of 1,600 votes per hour, that’s per team.”
According to a test run, it should take the vote counter roughly 2.5 minutes to lay out all 25 ballots, and approximately five minutes to count.
Using this method will allow for up to date information after the polls close.
“This lets us do hourly updates from a hand count, which is pretty rare,” said Arias. “So we’ll be doing hourly updates through our communications team all the way through 2 a.m. on election night.”
At 2 a.m. on Oct. 21 unofficial results are expected to be released, and Arias says official results will be submitted to the press by noon on Oct. 24.
This counting method also allows counters to see if the voter has used all their choices, and allows easy counting of unused votes. For example, if a voter is able to vote for four candidates, but only selects three, one unused vote will be counted.
To educate voters in Medicine Hat on the counting method, the city plans to release an online video in the near future to showcase what it looks like and how it will work.
“I look forward to seeing the video that is created because when I first heard of how manual counting worked I had no idea,” said Coun. Allison Knodel. “I think there will be many people that are like, “Oh, whoever created it is fairly intelligent.”
Additionally, Arias says 437 of 441 positions have been filled for the election.
“This is the largest staffing we’ve had at an election in recent memory, all temporary polling stations have been fully booked and finalized.”
Schedules for voting services at long-care term homes are being finalized.
Notices for nomination day have been sent out to city and school partners as per legislation, and notices of advance polls will soon follow after.
Two advance polling stations have been announced. Voters can hit the polls by visiting the Hockey Hound Recreation Centre or Faith Room at Holy Family Parish on Oct. 4 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Oct. 14-18 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Nomination day, the last day to submit papers to run, is Sept. 22 from 8:30 a.m. to noon in council chambers.
Crestwood Rec Centre pool update
City staff are hoping a replacement part to fix the boiler at Crestwood Rec Centre pool will arrive soon and the pool will reopen next week,
On Aug. 30, facilities management discovered the combustion blower failed in a component of the boiler, causing the temporary closure of the pool until further notice.
A replacement part was immediately ordered through the supplier, says James Will, director of parks and recreation, however the initial delivery of the part was between 12 and 14 days.
“Facilities management was working on trying to get air freight and have it here sooner,” he said. “We don’t have an update as of right now where it’s at in the process … depending on the timing of delivery of the replacement part, we anticipate that we could still open the week of Sept. 15, so they’re going to be working on it as quickly as it comes in.”
To help address the problem, efforts were made by staffers to open the Kinsmen Aquatic Park at Big Marble Go Centre ahead of schedule, and by keeping Hill Pool open until Friday.
“That would accommodate lane swimmers, aqua fit classes and the Waves Swim Club,” added Will.
Crestwood Rec Centre memberships will be honoured at both facilities during the closure.
