Canada Post strike prompts Elections Yukon to make changes ahead of vote

Voters and poll workers are shown at a Whitehorse polling station during the Yukon election on Monday April 12, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Kelly

Elections Yukon is making changes to how some people can vote in the upcoming territorial election in response to the ongoing Canada Post strike.

Chief electoral officer Maxwell Harvey said he expects hundreds of special ballots to be sent out via courier to voters outside the territory, complete with a return courier envelope that will be paid for by the elections agency.

Elections Yukon watches its budget “very closely,” Harvey said, but it’s important for all eligible voters to be able to cast their ballot.

“This would be an expense that I would feel we have no option but to offer to enable those electors to be able to vote,” he said Tuesday.

For distributing voter information cards that remind people where to vote, Harvey said the agency is considering its options.

Couriers outside of Canada Post only ship mail between major centres, he said, creating a special challenge to send documents and information to smaller communities across the territory.

Harvey said his office is in talks with the territorial government to potentially use its internal mailing system to reach people outside Whitehorse.

Voters may also turn to the agency’s website and social media channels, he said.

“Anybody can go online and actually find their digital voter information card that will tell them where they need to go to vote.”

The changes follow a countrywide strike by unionized postal workers starting last Thursday.

The election has to be called by Friday and will include 21 ridings, up from the current 19 MLAs in the legislature.

More than 36,000 Yukon residents are eligible to cast a ballot in the election. They are also set to vote in a non-binding electoral reform plebiscite on whether to change from the current system of first past the post to a ranked vote.

Harvey said his office was not taking a position on the plebiscite, but election officials had hoped to provide voters with information.

“We had planned on plebiscite information going out as … the neighbourhood mail that you get in your mailbox, so that is not an option anymore,” he said.

Harvey said the agency will instead aim to drop off information at places such as community centres and schools, as well as providing it to candidates on the campaign trail.

“We’re looking at doing some town halls as well,” he added.

“I would even say that in some ways, because of the attention on the mail strike, there (are) more people coming to Elections Yukon or contacting us to find out information. So there are some positives on this, but it is more of a challenge.”

In the Yukon, anyone who wants to vote early can get a special ballot, including those who will be in the territory on election day. In the 2021 territorial election, 17 per cent of voters submitted their choice using a special ballot.

In the past, Harvey said returning officers could only accept ballots for their own electoral district, but that’s changing.

To make it easier this year, he said voters will be able to pick up and cast special ballots for their riding at any of the more than two dozen offices across the Yukon.

“This election I’ve authorized that any returning office, or satellite office, can accept applications, and can approve and issue ballots, and actually accept the ballots,” Harvey said.

“Elections Yukon will be responsible for getting the ballots back for the count to either a returning officer or elections headquarters.”

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press