Tuesday marks the end of a particularly strange municipal election period.
The election was originally delayed one year from last May due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The polls closed for the majority of New Brunswickers on May 10, but results still haven’t been released two weeks later.
That delay is due to previous lockdown restrictions in the Edmundston-Madawaska region, which led to a two-week extension of the campaign. Elections New Brunswick previously announced results would not be shared in any municipality until voters in all regions of the province had the opportunity to vote.
Since most votes have already been cast, Elections NB will begin to tally votes Tuesday morning, and will be ready to release election results in the majority of ridings by 8 p.m. when polls close in the Edmundston-Madawaska area.
The many changes to the election routine seem to have made things difficult to follow for voters and politicians alike.
Ray Strowbridge is a councillor in Saint John’s Ward 4 seeking his third term in office. He says sitting on council since voting ended two weeks ago has him feeling like he’s stuck in a bit of a limbo period.
“Sitting in office, not really knowing if you’ve been re-elected and deserve to be there, that feels kind of strange,” he said. “I’m not really sure what I should be or shouldn’t be doing.”
Candidates have also fielded many questions about the unusual results reporting.
Joanna Killen is a candidate in Saint John’s Ward 1. She says it didn’t seem like the changes were well communicated to New Brunswickers.
“Some people are asking ‘did you win?'” Killen said. “One of the things that has come up with other candidates in discussions is how it really wasn’t that well explained from Elections NB, the media, etc. When you search it on Google it’s not the first thing that comes up.”
She says the returning officer reached out to the candidates to let them know how the results would be reported.
Strowbridge says he didn’t feel particularly strongly for or against the announcement to delay the election results.
“I just go with the flow,” he said. “It’s Elections New Brunswick’s call, and elections are their business. I’m just like everybody else, I’m waiting for the 25th.”
He says he has heard from people who disagree with the decision from residents who don’t think a lockdown in Edmundston should delay results in Saint John.
“I can’t say I necessarily disagree with that statement but it’s not in my control at all,” said Strowbridge.
For all the changes to the way results are being reported, much less has been said about the different guidelines for campaigning during a pandemic.
Killen ran for the Green Party in last September’s provincial election, and had some experience reaching out to voters with the existing Public Health guidelines.
“I didn’t do any door-to-door, but I would go to events, clean-up, things that were all COVID-approved,” she said. “My whole thing was making a lot of phone calls, sending a lot of Facebook messages, and really trying to convey who I am through video.”
Strowbridge also avoided door knocking and instead worked to spread campaign flyers and signs.
“I stayed away from doing door-to-door this campaign simply because I did not want to offend anybody, I didn’t want anybody to disapprove of me coming to their home.”
