Spoiled ballots: 63

 

On Saturday, community members lined up at polling stations staffed by volunteers across the cities of Thorold, St. Catharines and Niagara-On-the-Lake. Advance polls were conduced in schools, hospitals, auto plants, seniors’ homes and other workplaces across the community.

 

“This is real grassroots democracy at work. We are thrilled that over 12,000 people cared enough to cast their votes to keep our new hospital public,” said Sue Hotte, Niagara Health Coalition co chair. “The residents of our community have sent a clear message to our elected politicians that we are supporting our new hospital, but we want a public not a privatized hospital. We are now asking our MPPs to take this message to their caucuses and to cabinet and bring back a promise to keep our hospital 100% publicly financed, managed and operated.”

 

“This is the first plebiscite (community-wide vote) to stop the privatization of our hospitals, and we are overwhelmed by the response,” said Natalie Mehra coordinator of the Ontario Health Coalition. “We will use the St. Catharines model to work with local communities across the province to mount citizens’ votes to keep our hospitals public and non-profit. With such a tremendous response, the government will not be able to break its election promise to keep our hospitals public.”

 

Organizers were taken by surprise at the level of community response:

Residents lined up at many polling stations before they opened in the morning, waiting to vote.

Several polling stations ran out of ballots and ballot boxes were stuffed to overflowing. Extra volunteers had to be dispatched to bring them more while voters waited.

Patients in one hospital told staff they wanted to be able to vote, and extra volunteers were sent in with ballot boxes to accommodate them.

Seniors from one nursing home where the owner would not allow a polling station, left the home and crossed the street to vote at a station outside.

Over a hundred volunteers braved sweltering temperatures and late-afternoon thunderstorms to staff polling stations all day across the community. Volunteers drove from site to site with sunscreen and cold drinks to stave off heat stroke. Some polling stations had to be closed down early as lightening and rainstorms created dangerous conditions at some of the outdoor sites.

Voters brought their children and grandparents in from across the city to vote, some for the first time.

Phones at the main campaign office rang constantly with voters looking for polling stations and people walking or driving in off the street to vote.

 

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