Canadian by-elections, 2012

[DC Al Fine]

Random question: does Canada have the same "if you're in line when polls closed then you get to vote" standard as U.S. elections? I'm aware that line-ups are rarely longer than 15 or 20 minutes so it's not really as much of an issue.

I think so. I've never seen it happen though. Whenever I've scrutineered, there is barely anyone around when the polls close. But then again, polls close late in Ontario to accommodate the west. (compare Durham is closing at 9:30 local time and Calgary Centre is at 7:30 local time).

Things are different in the UK, right? I remember huge issues in their last election.

To those who already scrutineered, does lanes are common, or quite rare?

There's usually a 10-20 people lined up when the polls close. It's not really hard to process.

[Smid]

As an aside, yes, things are different in the UK.

After the 2010 election, new signs have appeared at polling stations which say "Polls close at 10pm, always expect queues as you cannot vote afterwards" or somesuch. I think there's an amendment to the law going through the Commons, at the usual pace you'd expect.

Over here, at 6pm (when polls close), an Electoral Commission employee walks to the end of the line, and everyone in front of them can vote, and everyone who shows up after that is turned away. That said, the line by then is usually pretty short, so often it's just a case of going over and locking the doors (scrutineers must be in the room by then).

The lines are longest at lunch time, although there are other smaller peaks throughout the day. Since we have compulsory voting, turnout isn't much of an indicator, we use the "early morning rush" as our estimation of how eager people are to vote.

How long before results start trickling in?

Counting started in Calgary and Durham (10 minutes ago), but no results can be published before 20 minutes (when Victoria polls closes).

Cheers mate!

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

What site(s) are you guys going to be watching results on?

[Hatman 🍁]

http://enr.elections.ca/ElectoralDistricts_e.aspx

Tories already up by 9 in Calgary

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

http://enr.elections.ca/ElectoralDistricts_e.aspx

Tories already up by 9 in Calgary

OK - that's what I already had up. I didn't know if CBC had a dedicated page, but I couldn't find one.

It's a close one in Calgary Centre!

[Hatman 🍁]

Liberals ahead by 10 now in Calgary

[Meeker]

NDP far ahead of the Liberals in Durham for the silver medal. Tories under 50%.

[MaxQue]

Liberals up by 34 votes in the latest update.
47-31 in Durham.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Liberals ahead by 10 now in Calgary

I'm guessing it'll flip back and forth a few times tonight.

[MaxQue]

Question: Why there is a Durham County?
I hope it's not about Lord Durham, the governor of the mid nineteenth century.

EDIT: Liberals up 35 now.

[Hatman 🍁]

Question: Why there is a Durham County?
I hope it's not about Lord Durham, the governor of the mid nineteenth century.

Well, it's Durham Region now. Half the riding is in what used to be Ontario County.

[Hatman 🍁]

Crockatts now ahead!

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Crockatt retakes a 15 vote lead!

[Linus Van Pelt]

Question: Why there is a Durham County?
I hope it's not about Lord Durham, the governor of the mid nineteenth century.

Southwestern Ontario was laid out to look like England by its original colonial administration. For it to work you have to flip it almost on its side so the Michigan border is the "south" and towards Toronto is the "north", with Lakes Erie and Ontario as the "east". Look at where London is on this orientation, and consider that it's on the Thames River in Middlesex County, that the next county downriver is Kent, whose main city is Chatham, and that on the other side, up the Thames River is Oxford County. Also observe where Norfolk County is. The Niagara region was originally Lincoln County, while Toronto was originally called York (preserved in the county name which was separated from the city itself in the 1950's). The river that empties into Lake Ontario in Etobicoke, which was then the countryside west ("south" on this orientation) of York is the Humber, and the county just past York is Durham, and then comes Northumberland...

[cp]

All tied up now.

[Hatman 🍁]

All tied up now.

Long time no see

[cp]

It's good to be back.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

All tied up now.

I've gotta say - right now this is about as exciting as a horse race... this will not do good things for my studying tonight.

[Hatman 🍁]

Tories back on top.

[RogueBeaver]

Crockatt retakes a 10-vote lead.

Question: how small does the margin have to be for an automatic recount? 0.5%?

[doktorb]

That enr.elections website is very good!

[Meeker]

Turnout in Calgary Centre will be lucky to break 25% at this pace.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Crockatt widens the lead to 129 votes.

[Hatman 🍁]

Turnout in Calgary Centre will be lucky to break 25% at this pace.

Surprising considering how close it is...

[RogueBeaver]

Yep. Do we have any idea which polls are reporting? I still think Crockatt wins narrowly, but who knows.

CBC has called Durham for O'Toole.