Today last chance to cast ballot in advance poll in Lake Country

Voter interest in a Lake Country town council byelection is running remarkably high.

Sixty-one people cast ballots on the first day of advance voting last Wednesday.

“That was about half as many people who voted in total in Carr’s Landing during the 2014 municipal election,” Willene Perez, a town staffer serving as deputy returning officer, said Monday.

Today is the second and last day of advance voting. People can cast their ballots at the Carr’s Landing fire hall. General voting day is Saturday, with the fire hall again serving as the voting place.

There are about 700 eligible voters in Carr’s Landing, one of four electoral wards within the District of Lake Country. In 2014, 116 Carr’s Landing residents voted in the municipal election, the lowest total by far of the four wards.

To be eligible to vote, a person must be 18, a Canadian citizen and a resident of B.C. for at least six months. Residents of B.C. who own property in Carr’s Landing can also vote, but the many out-ofprovince property owners, typically Albertans, cannot vote.

Three people are running to fill the seat vacated when councillor Matt Vader resigned to take a fulltime job with the municipality.

The candidates are D. Oscar Barnes, a lawyer, Joanne de Vries, an environmental activist, and Jeanette Lambert, with a background in real estate.