The snap election made it impossible to set up campus polling stations, according to Elections New Brunswick.
Chief electoral officer Kim Poffenroth says in the past few elections, it’s taken months before the election period to set up the programs.
“There’s simply not enough time to put in place the procedures and the mechanisms and the technology that’s required for our on-campus voting program,” she said.
Poffenroth said normally there’s a summer student who spends months working with universities and student groups to get the on-campus voting programs set up.
“And then we were also concerned about whether or not there were going to be students on campus, what services were going to be available on campus, so that was also a factor but the most significant factor was the logistical challenges, the short election period without any notice,” she said.
The New Brunswick Student Alliance expressed concerns that not having on-campus voting would be a big barrier for students who want to vote especially for first-time voters. However, Poffenroth said there shouldn’t be any problems in voting.
“A student can vote the same as any other elector. On the advance voting days which are September fifth and eight, they can vote on election day, they can apply for a mail-in ballot and vote by mail,” she said.
Poffenroth said a student can also go into any returning office in the province and vote for any electoral district in the province.
She said the next goal is to reduce lineups at polling stations on election day, especially at peak times.
