Kim Poffenroth is the chief electoral officer for New Brunswick. (Image submitted)
It will be up to New Brunswick MLAs to decide if May’s municipal elections will go ahead as planned amidst concerns about COVID-19.
In a statement, the province’s chief electoral officer said she has no authority to postpone the elections.
“Doing so would require a change to New Brunswick election laws by the Legislative Assembly to change the May 2020 elections from its current scheduled date,” wrote Poffenroth.
Poffenroth said there are “obvious concerns over public safety” given that an election involves thousands of citizens voting in hundreds of polling stations manned by 4,000 election workers.
“Given the high contact nature of an election, as the chief electoral officer for New Brunswick, I do not feel there is an easy solution to reducing the risk to electors or the workers,” said Poffenroth.
“My office has been in discussions with senior government officials over the past several days to determine the best course of action.”
The legislature is expected to sit again Tuesday afternoon but it is unclear if any amendments will be brought forward.
Follow
