Drive-thru voting coming to Strathcona County for municipal election

Voting from a vehicle will be possible for the first time in Strathcona County this fall.

The county plans to offerdrive-thru voting at the Broadview Enviroservice Station in Sherwood Park in advance of the October 18 municipal election.

Jacqueline Roblin, Strathcona County's manager of legislative services and contract management, said plans for the drive-thru voting station predated the pandemic but the health crisis has heightenedthe need for spreading out voters.

Alberta Health Services tested tens of thousands of people for COVID-19 at a drive-thru at the same location.

"We started thinking we could do the same, just at a different angle," Roblin said in an interview with CBC Edmonton's Radio Active on Monday.

Other Canadian municipalities, including the City of Calgary, have offered drive-thru votingin the past. The City of Edmonton has yet to offer the option.

In Saskatoon this fall, a new drive-thru voting station was so popular that at one point, voters in vehicles faced a three-hour wait, said Roblin, whoconsulted with other municipalities while planningStrathcona County's station.

Anticipating high interest,the county plans to run its drive-thru voting station for six days, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Election day will not be one of those days. That's because during the advancepoll period, anybody in the municipality may attend any advance voting station, but on October 18, voters must cast ballots in the area in which they reside.

"It would be very difficult, if not impossible, for us to be running both our regular voting stations on election day and having all of the different ballot styles at the Envirostation," Roblin said.

A voter who uses the drive-thru option will place their ballot ina privacy folder before passing it off to a poll worker through their vehicle window.

Roblin said the drive-thru locationcould be more convenient for people with disabilities, parents with sleeping children in the car, andpeoplewho do not want to worry about parking near a polling station.

In 2017, voter turnout in Strathcona County was 39 per cent.