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Times Advocate, 1999-06-02, Page 20TAKE OUR CAKE! ICE M DESSERTS iso 1-886-20.7775 TRY OUR PIE! Crossroads Page 20Wednesday, June 2 , 1999 Exeter Times -Advocate Your guide to provcial election day Ready for your vote. Exeter deputy returning officer Elaine Skinner, left, returning officer Bruce Shaw and polling clerk Ruth Hogan have a busy day in front of them tomorrow with the provincial election. Polls open at 9 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. For more information in the Exeter area, call the returning office at (519) 235-4718. By Craig Bradford plies. He also has to smooth out all the TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF bumpy spots and glitches along the way. Shaw was appointed by the Tory provincial government -after he was nominated for the post. Shaw joins 84 other rookie returning officers out of the 103 ridings across Ontario. The province whittled down the number of ridings from 130 and adjusted bound- aries to mirror the federal ridings which means many provincial ridings, like Huron -Bruce, are much larger than their single county riding predecessors. Once appointed, returning officers can have the post for life if they choose. Deputy returning officers (DROs) are also appointed by the ruling govern- ment. Huron -Bruce will have the same number of DROs as there are polling stations — 218. The DROs will be joined at each poll by a polling clerk. Clerks are appointed by either the last ruling party or the one that came second in the last election if a new one came to EXETER — With the provincial elec- tion just a day away, we at the T -A thought some of our readers might need a crash course in 'Election 101'. Huron-J3ruce returning officer Bruce Shaw, retired South Huron District High School principal and former Exeter mayor, was more than happy to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule to help us put together the election picture. The returning officer has arguably (other than the voters and candidates) the most important job during the elec- tion. Shaw is responsible for nothing going wrong at the 218 polls in Huron - Bruce and for the over 500 people working at those polls. "I have to make sure the election will run off without a hitch," Shaw said. Part of that responsibility is to make sure all his staff have the necessary sup - power. In this case, the clerks are appointed by the Liberals. FYI: the returning officer, DROs and clerks are paid for their efforts. With other assistants and volunteers working on the election in ridings across the province, Shaw said over 40,000 people are necessary to make a pr©vincl t election work. There aro` 65,000 electors in Huron-.. _Bruce. The first thing Shaw had to do • after being appointed in March was to map out the entire riding with help from the last federal returning officer, Art Bolton of Seaforth. Then, when the election was called, the returning office -had to send out voter registration cards to all eligible voters. On the cards are instructions on which poll to vote at and other pertinent information. It turns out four ridings in the province had "massive errors" to con- tend with when it came to registration cards — Huron -Bruce is one of them. Shaw said registration cards for Exeter . voters didn't get addressed. But Exeter's small town spirit rose to the challenge as 95 per cent of the cards made it to their destinations anyway since every- one knows everyone else in the home of the white squirrel. Another glitch came when candidate nominations closed by the afternoon of Thursday, May 20, and ballots had to be printed by the next Saturday for the first. of the advance polls. Shaw said the "compressed" campaign is good for the politicians but can be a hassle for bureaucrats. Then comes the advertising blitz in Iocal newspapers across the riding to tell everyone about advance polls, how to get on the voters' list, the qualifica- tions to vote and so on. Last week the returning office was flooded with calls from people who either didn't receive their registration card or are sure they are not on the vot- ers list. Shaw said he tried to nip the problem in the bud by visiting each of the ridings eight urban centres to approve proxies, add people to the voters' list and give out voting certificates. He also estab- lished a Kincardine sub -office and swore in an assistant returning officer there so Bruce voters didn't have to travel all j,he way to Exeter to get on the voters list. In the week leading to the election, Shaw was to visit each high school in the riding to sign up as many new 18 - year -old students to vote as he could. If you wake up tomorrow and realize you're not on the voters' list, don't panic. Shaw says getting on the list is simple: all you do is visit any polling sta- tion (seven of Exeter's nine polls are at South Huron District High School, the two others are at Exeter Villa -- every nursing home in the province is required to have a poll for its residents), tell a DRO you want to get.ron the list -and vote and present two pieces of iden- tification such as your driver's licence and health card that give your age, address and a signature. The hopeful voter then swears an oath and is given a ballot. "It takes five, minutes, tops," Shaw said. If your excuse not to vote is because you have no means of transportation, don't read any further. Any political party would be glad to pick you up at home, take you to your poll and take you home. It has something to do with earning your vote. Shaw suggests call- ing your favourite party — their number is readily available by phoning informa- tion (411). If you've had your head buried in the sand for the past month or so and know nothing about your local candidates, the platforms of the parties or any of the issues, Shaw suggests you go to the rid- ing offices of the candidates and pick up as much campaign material you can. "Then talk to people with an open Blind but realize everyone has a bias," Shaw said. "You'll probably vote for the party, the leader or an individual (can- didate)." Polls open at 9 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Here's what happens after the polls close: the DRO breaks the seal on the polling box in front of scrutineers (one can be appointed by each party for each poll); the box is poured out on a table where the DRO and clerk will count each ballot. The DRO declares which candidate is checked off on each ballot while the clerk checks off the vote on a tally sheet. When they're done, the call is made to the returning office that cern- he Veri ViV i e gve ing. aw exp the process`b-tae while: the returning office, located across from the T -A at 425 Main St. S. in Exeter, has only five phone lines for the 218 polls to report to. On election day, Shaw;aidAis assis- tant will be expected to visit the 92 dif- ferent polling areas. Shaw's answer to whether this will be accomplished? "Impossible," he said with a laugh. "I would think June 3 will be chaotic." Tomorrow will be a stressful day for Shaw with all the fires he'll have to put out. The three training sessions he has had up to this point will be no match for the actual experience. Shaw. said in all his 23 years as a high school principal, he never lost a night of sleep over work. Last week he admitted to not getting a wink for three days. Shaw said his job won't be done till the second week of June with all the loose ends he'll need to tie up. Although many people will make the trip to the polls tomorrow, many more will not exercise their right as Ontarians and Canadians. Many people, especially young voters, say their single vote does- n't mean anything, that it's pointless and all politicians are crooks. "It's dumb to say that," Shaw said. He said the last three provincial gov- ernments,. Liberal, NDP and PC, were voted in by majorities. But not a majori- ty of the eligible voters had their say. "In every case a majority government was elected by just 28 per cent of the people," Shaw said. Maybe that 72 per. cent of non voters have some power after all. "You get the government you deserve," Shaw said. "If you don't vote you don't have a right to complain. You haven't taken part in the process." ONTARIO GOESTOTHE POLLS '~