Municipal polling stations to be in schools despite strict school bubbles

Part of the plan to keep schools as safe as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic is to keep the people at a school to a minimum.

That means no visitors — and even parents are being asked to leave their kids at the fence line.

However, that bubble is going to be stretched quite a bit when the municipal election comes around in November, because there are many polling stations set for schools.

Jim Nicol is Regina’s city clerk and returning officer. He said schools are usually used for polling places because they’re typically central in a ward, people are used to voting at them and voters know where the schools are.

There’s one important reason contributing to why polls will still be at schools this year: Nicol said they would have been challenged to have enough space for polls otherwise.

“Because we utilize so many of the schools and ideally with their gymnasium configurations, which are particularly used, we’ve been able to do that,” said Nicol.

He explained churches and schools make up the majority of the city’s polling stations and they just worked out this year based on past arrangements.

Nicol said there were several discussions with the school boards about the issue and there will be several precautions and guidelines put in place to keep the voters away from the children.

There will be only one door voters will be able to use to enter the schools and there will be a worker there to bring them in if the doors are locked. There will also be extra workers along the way from the entrance to the polls to make sure the people aren’t wandering off into the school.

“We’ll be there to respectfully remind people to keep the distance at all times, respect the safety and the interests of the kids as well as the teachers, and keep moving in an orderly fashion onto the voting stations,” said Nicol.

Washrooms in the school will also be off-limits to visitors, and election workers will have their own dedicated washrooms to keep them away from the kids as well.

Other precautions will be in place at the polls to keep everyone safe. Nicol said there will be hand-sanitizing stations for workers going in and out, clerks at tables will be separated by plastic barriers, voting booths will be separated as well, and everything will be wiped down after each use.

Nicol said workers will be required to wear masks.

“We will also be encouraging voters who are entering the polls to respect the best interests of everybody and also wear a mask,” explained Nicol.

Elections Regina has been heavily promoting mail-in ballots for use this election but Nicol said officials are still expecting a typical turnout. There will also be three days of advanced polls, and mobile polls for those who can’t leave their homes or are immunocompromised.

Nicol said an election has a certain amount of work and safety challenges with it.

“COVID has certainly put another significant layer on those preparations, whether that is from ordering various PPE equipment (or) trying to configure certain polling stations so that it flows,” said Nicol.

The provincial government worked with school boards to have kids out of school on the provincial election day. Nicol said the city had talked about it but wasn’t able to make the same deal with the school divisions.