Voters south of Nanaimo will not have to drive through two other ridings to get to their polling station after all.
Approximately 500 voters in Extension in the Ladysmith-Oceanside electoral district were issued voter information cards that mistakenly directed them to vote at Nanoose Place, confirmed Elections B.C.
Andrew Watson, senior director of communications with Elections B.C., said the situation was brought to Elections B.C.'s attention after a media report about a voter complaining about a potential 35-minute drive to a polling station at the other end of the riding, a drive that would have taken the voter through both the Nanaimo-Gabriola and Nanaimo-Lantzville ridings.
The closest voting place for residents of Extension is actually North Oyster Community Centre, and voter information cards are being re-issued to reflect that. Watson said the new voter cards should arrive in mailboxes in the next day or so.
He said the situation prompted an Elections B.C. review that identified similar problems in parts of three other ridings: Cariboo-Chilcotin, Nechako Lakes and Prince George-North Cariboo.
Watson noted that voting places are assigned partly to help Elections B.C. administer the election and manage traffic at polling stations.
"The most important thing for voters to know about it is you don't have to vote at your assigned voting place on election day, you can actually vote at any voting place in B.C.," he said.
The provincial election is Oct. 19, with advance voting on Oct. 10-13 and Oct. 15-16. Any Canadian citizens 18 years old and up who have lived in B.C. for at least six months are eligible to vote.
