Did you know? Early-bird voting already underway

Arthur Gallant figures he was first person in Hamilton Centre to vote in the 2018 provincial election.

But for a few days, he worried he was the first to accidentally spoil his ballot.

The early bird voter showed up at the returning office to cast a ballot just after noon May 10 — the first possible date — and wrote in the name of his preferred candidate because regular ballots had yet to be printed.

Many people don’t realize you can vote outside of election day, June 7, at scheduled advance polls. You can also vote in person at your riding’s returning office between May 10 and June 6. Election Ontario says about 74,000 voters did so in 2014, a spike over the 54,000 in 2011.

Gallant ran into a problem when he misspelled the candidate name on his write-in ballot. (He had to write in the name because at the time, would-be candidates still had another week before the May 17 registration deadline.)

“I asked for a new ballot and (returning office officials) didn’t know what to do when a voter said they made an error on their ballot before depositing it in the ballot box,” said Gallant. He added that officials debated among themselves before directing him to cast the ballot, error notwithstanding.

He later consulted Election Ontario’s website and found voters who make a mistake on a ballot can ask for it to be cancelled and replaced. That prompted a worried Gallant to complain to the agency, fearing his vote would be declared invalid.

Despite the debate, on-site election officials made the right call, said Elections Ontario spokesperson Jessica Pellerin.

While voters can ask for a mistake-riddled ballot to be cancelled, the rules also say no writein ballot will be rejected because of a misspelled name “if the ballot clearly indicates the elector’s intent.”

Pellerin said the agency apologized to Gallant for the confusion.

“We are working with the election officials involved to provide additional training.”