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Early hiccups at Whitehorse polling stations

A few deputy returning officers didn’t show up. In one case a voter was handed a ballot from 2015.
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A man walks passed the polling place sign at city hall in Whitehorse on Oct. 18. (Crystal Schick/Yukon News)

Mandeep Sidhu is not on the list of mayoral candidates this year, but he was on the ballots handed out at City Hall the morning of Oct. 18.

That’s because a staffer accidentally opened a box of 2015 ballots and handed one out to an early voter.

Myles Dolphin, spokesperson for the city of Whitehorse, said the voter didn’t realize the mix-up and handed the ballot in. Fortunately, said Dolphin, the tabulator rejected the ballot. The mistake was caught before any more 2015 ballots were handed out. The voter was then able to fill out a 2018 ballot.

Dolphin also confirmed that a few deputy returning officers didn’t show up at polling stations, so replacements had to be found and trained at the last minute. This had a domino effect, which meant ballots and privacy dividers weren’t set up at some locations including the Canada Games Centre and the Yukon government administration building (though staff did erect makeshift privacy booths until the real ones arrived).

Additionally, the tabulator at Vanier Catholic School was delayed, and the internet was down at Kwanlin Dün Potlatch House.

Dolphin said both issues were resolved by 11 a.m.

Contact Amy Kenny at amy.kenny@yukon-news.com



Amy Kenny

About the Author: Amy Kenny

I moved from Hamilton, Ontario, to the Yukon in 2016 and joined the Yukon News as the Local Journalism Initaitive reporter in 2023.
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