PC riding association to run four nomination polling stations

Area Tory membership cardholders won’ t have to go as far this month to vote for the next Conservative candidate for the Lac La Biche - St. Paul - Two Hills riding.

The Progressive Conservative riding association has announced it is quadrupling the number of polling stations for this year’ s PC nomination, taking place on February 21.

Originally, just one polling station in St. Paul was planned for the nomination day event, with any Conservative-card-holding member being able to vote for the next PC candidate in the upcoming provincial election.

After an increase in volunteer interest, officials at the regional riding association decided to increase the number of polling stations for the upcoming party nomination from one to four.

The polling stations for the February 21 nomination will be in St. Paul, Elk Point, Two Hills, and Lac La Biche. Don Schultz, vice-president of memberships for the PC riding association said the decision to increase the number of polling stations came after requests from regional residents.

“We had the people from these communities say: ‘look, we need you to expand it’ ,” he said, adding that the riding association would only agree if there were enough volunteers. “Every community has stepped up.”

Such an increase in the number of polling stations for a party nomination is atypical - most parties only have one or two polling stations in any given region for their nominations. Schultz agreed that having more than one polling station is unusual, but said it will be more convenient for voters.

“Considering the time of year, and the interest that we’ ve had, we decided to make it as easy as we can for everybody,” he said. “It’ s going to cost us a little bit, but it’ s minimal.”

The Lac La Biche polling station will be located at the Smiley’ s location on Main Street on Saturday, February 21 from 11 am to 3 pm. Ballots will then be sent to St Paul for counting. Advance polling will take place on February 7, but only in St. Paul.

Party membership cards are available on the PC association website.