Long lineups continue in Ottawa on the second day of advance voting.
Newlyweds Ian & Arielle Borsuk said they waited more than an hour to vote in Ottawa Centre.
“I had to change my last name to my married name and it really took a lot longer for them to do it then I thought it would. I have my marriage certificate with me and even with that they were looking through all the forms again,” said Arielle Borsuk.
Her husband said he expected the process to speed up after his wife registered, but said it was much the same.
“When you got to the front it was just as slow for them to go through all the forms again as though they didn’t trust the first registration desk,” said Ian Borsuk.
The wait times were anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours depending on the polling station. The long delays forced some people to leave.
“I’m not going to wait an hour. It’s a nice day. I think we’ve voted here three or four times and generally we just walk in and walk up and vote,” said one voter.
Another woman left with her daughter because she said she had an appointment. Both said they would return later or vote on October 19th.
Elections Canada has since apologized for the delays. Field liaison officer for Eastern Ontario, Joan O’Neill, said extra staff was added to some locations to speed up wait times.
“The special ballot voting and the advance poll voting all take a little longer than on election day because of course there’s the effort to make sure the people who vote ahead of time, don’t vote again, so there are more meticulous records kept,” said O’Neill.
Advance polls will be open from noon until 8 p.m. until Monday, October 12, 2015.