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MERRITT HERALD FREE
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2015 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
CANADA VOTES 2015
COMMUNITY
CONFUSION
Frozen funding has shelter banking on community charity
AT POLLING STATIONS
Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
Merrittonians frustrated after being sent to Lower Nicola polling stations Michael Potestio and David Dyck THE MERRITT HERALD
Elections Canada sent some Merritt voters to Lower Nicola to shore up the numbers between local polling stations on election day, a move that frustrated some. “It’s just a little confusing,” said Merritt resident Ed Ware, who was on his way out of the Lower Nicola polling station. He said he had already been to the Merritt Civic Centre, where he was told by someone at the door he had to vote in Lower Nicola. He added that he lives on Priest Avenue in town and voted at the Merritt Civic Centre in past federal elections. Elizabeth Salomon-de-Friedberg, local organizer with Elections Canada, said the federal body split the electoral district into multiple polling divisions, with each receiving 400 electors per poll. In the Nicola Valley area there were polling stations in Logan Lake, in Merritt at the civic centre and in Lower Nicola at the community hall. There were 14 ballot boxes at the Merritt civic centre and four at the Lower Nicola community hall. She said the number of electors located in the Lower Nicola area came up short, so Elections Canada redistributed some voters from the southern part of Merritt to Lower Nicola. Merritt residents who were supposed to
vote in Lower Nicola were still able to vote at the civic centre by asking to be issued a transfer certificate, Salomonde-Friedberg said. She photocopied the certificates to ensure there were enough to go around. However, it’s important Merritt voters do vote in Lower Nicola if they are instructed to in order to avoid any potential ballot shortage, as experienced during the advanced polls, should the voting place at the civic center be overwhelmed, Salomon-deFriedberg told the Herald on election day. “It will create a problem because we’re going to have to start borrowing from each other, and if it’s really busy, mistakes happen,” Salomon-de-Friedberg. She said people were encouraged to vote where assigned so Elections Canada could account for how many people voted in each polling division. Another Merritt resident, Cherylle Douglas, received a transfer form, but she said it was only after she refused to go to Lower Nicola, citing health problems. “There were a lot of people being turned away [to go to Lower Nicola],” said Douglas. “I was number 12 on the list that got a transfer and the gentleman that did my
transfer said they had turned away at least 100 people.” Douglas said she was skeptical that the selection was random. She lives with her daughter and her father at the same address on the south side of town. Both herself and her daughter are on employment insurance due to disability, while her father receives a Canada Pension. His voter card said to vote at the Merritt Civic Centre, while Douglas and her daughter were directed to Lower Nicola. “I don’t know if that’s relevant, but from what I’m hearing, people that are on disability or on welfare are being told to go to Lower Nicola.” Elections Canada Spokesperson, Dorothy Sitek said that unlike in the B.C. provincial election where electors can go to any polling location to vote, in the Federal election one must report to the poll associated with one’s address.
LOOK FOR FULL COVERAGE OF THE 2015 FEDERAL ELECTION RESULTS ONLINE NOW AND IN THE THURSDAY OCT. 22 EDITION OF THE HERALD.
Despite a large increase in visitors accessing their cold weather shelter, the Nicola Valley Shelter and Support Society’s provincial funding remains stagnant for 201516. For the third year in a row, BC Housing will supply $34,000 to help the shelter stay operational through the winter. “That’s still never enough to keep our doors open, we rely on independent donations from the community,” said newly minted shelter co-ordinator Amery Schultz. BC Housing gives the shelter society about $300 per night up to a total of $34,000 per season, Schultz told the Herald. He said his budgeted cost to operate the shelter per night is about $415. “However, those are just budget figures, we spend more than that,” Schultz said, noting expenses such as electricity, food and emergency grants to their clientele. “Although our expenses go up, that number stays the same,” Schultz said. “This is what drives our need for donations from the community.” “With our staffing costs, our rent, our utilities, it adds up to a pretty penny,” he said. The shelter’s funding from BC Housing hasn’t increased in three years, when it went up from $12,000.
See ‘Donations’ Page 8