Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Oct. 27th, 2020

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Garrity.

[Tim Garrity]

No.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Thank you very much.

Those are all of my questions, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you.

Next we have Monsieur Therrien.

You have 2.5 minutes.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

To vote, you had to wear a mask. Were there any cases where a voter did not wear a mask and where this created a dispute or raised problems at the polling place? If so, was that individual expelled or did he or she comply with the mask rule? Did this situation occur?

[Kimberly Poffenroth]

I'll go first on that one.

In New Brunswick at the time of the election, individuals were required to wear masks only when social distancing could not be maintained. As the election body, we encouraged all voters to wear masks. I had a lot of, I'll say, “earned media”. I did a lot of interviews during that election, and I made it clear that no elector was going to be turned away from the polls, from voting—a basic democratic right—for not wearing a mask.

We did have individuals who showed up at polls and said they weren't going to. I'm very proud of the work of our poll workers. They made accommodations for those individuals. They spread out the vote. If a person came and wasn't going to wear a mask, they kept people back so they weren't entering the poll as closely behind that individual, and they made sure everything was wiped down after that individual went through and voted.

[Tim Garrity]

Here in P.E.I. there is no mask mandate. Masks are just being recommended. They are strongly recommended at the polling locations. We have them available. We also have face shields for those who present and choose not to wear a mask.

We haven't encountered any issues with this, but nobody would be turned away. We would do the same thing. We would offer a little bit of extra distancing in between, if that were to happen.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

We saw that the voter turnout rate was pretty much the same.

Ms. Poffenroth, were there more spoiled ballots than usual in this election because of the voting process?

[Kimberly Poffenroth]

I'm sorry, but I don't have those numbers right in front of me. I don't believe it was significantly different, but I can't say for certain.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

At first glance, you didn't see a big difference.

Did I understand you correctly?

[Kimberly Poffenroth]

That's correct. There may have been a few more mail-in ballots that couldn't be processed, but not a significant number.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Do you have an answer, Mr. Garrity, as well? That's pretty much all the time we have.

[Tim Garrity]

No. We are not at the point of counting the ballots yet—that will happen next Monday night—so we can't really make a comment on that right now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

That makes complete sense.

Thank you, Mr. Therrien.

Next is Mr. Blaikie.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

When voters who present at a polling station with a mask on are there to get their ballot, are they required to take their mask off for the identification process?

[Kimberly Poffenroth]

No. In New Brunswick there is no facial identification process. If you're on the voters list, you say your name and your address. If you're on the voters list, you vote.

[Tim Garrity]

We do ask people to present with identification, but if they do not have it, they can take what's called an “oath of elector”. It's a form they fill out to attest that they are who they say they are. Then they're able to proceed.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

If they're wearing a mask and they present ID, would they be asked to take the mask off?

[Tim Garrity]

No, they would not.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Is there any concern that this has led to any kind of voter fraud in your elections?

[Tim Garrity]

We have had no concern here on P.E.I.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Ms. Poffenroth.

[Kimberly Poffenroth]

No.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

To return quickly to the question about political parties and campaigning, we heard that there was no agreement between parties. Different parties were doing different things. Did that present any challenge for you in conducting the election? Are there things you think might have gone more smoothly if the partisan actors within the electoral process had come to agreement about certain things, and, if so, what things do you think would have been helpful for partisans to agree on?

[Kimberly Poffenroth]

We didn't see it having an impact on the conduct of the election itself from our perspective.