With the Quebec government gradually reopening everything except very large scale events, is not time for the number of by-elections scheduled into this province to occur?
Côte Saint-Luc had one scheduled for April 5 to fill the vacancy for City Council District 2 after the passing of Ruth Kovac last fall. The two candidates, Leslie Perez and Adam Dahan have had their campaign posters on poles since March.
Of course we fully understand the necessity for social distancing, but if people can line up at the pharmacy, the grocery store, the bank and other places then a polling station can certainly be arranged appropriately. One election official per table. Everyone wears masks. Hand sanitizer when you enter and leave. Nobody uses the same pencil and so on.
Remember these are by-elections, where turnouts are notoriously low.
No, candidates cannot do anymore door to door. But over the last few months the new normal has seen people of all ages take to the internet like never before. Few people, regardless of age, are not on zoom. Municipalities like ours can certainly arrange a live Zoom meet the candidates night and keep it on YouTube. Ads can be placed in The Suburban and on social media. Mailings can be sent out.
I am walking the route of my entire district several days a week, speaking to many constituents from a distance. Candidates can indeed do this.
For now, Councillor David Tordjman and i are sharing the duties for District 8. However, due to the pandemic the volume of calls and emails each councillor must respond to has increased. District 8 residents deserve their own councillor.
Originally the by-elections were delayed until the end of April and then the end of June. We have heard nothing from the Elections Quebec in weeks. Do they have a plan in place? A quick look at their website shows that there are currently six by-elections on hold. Besides CSL, there is Beauharnois, Drummondville, Hudson, Mont-Laurier and Rouyn-Noranda
The Quebec government is currently studying the possibility of introducing internet voting one day. Here are the details.
With COVID-19 cases at a low level these days, the time is now for Elections Quebec to act!