What's at stake as polls open today in St. Boniface byelection

Manitoba's political parties have a lot at stake as they try to awaken voters from their summer slumber to vote in the St. Boniface byelection on Tuesday.

Polls will remain open until 8 p.m., with theSt. Boniface clashserving as a critical testing ground for thetwo front-runners.

Dougald Lamont's futureas theleader of the Manitoba Liberals will be questioned if he cannotwin a seat in the legislature, while NDP Leader Wab Kinewneeds another win under hisbelt while the party rebuilds itself from a demoralizingelection loss two years ago.

A victory for Lamont would give the party a fourth seat in the Manitoba Legislature, along with official party status and the funding that comes with it.

Blandine Tona is the candidate for the New Democrats, while Mamadou Ka is contesting the riding again for the ruling Progressive Conservatives and Franoise Therrien Vrignon represents the Manitoba Green Party.

Getting out the vote will be even more essential than usual, because turnout in byelections is historically low, especially in the doldrums of summer.

Only 32 per cent of eligible voters participatedin the last provincialbyelection, held in June 2017 in Point Douglas, compared toa 43 per cent turnout in that riding in the 2016 provincial election.

Here's a tee-up of what voters and observers alike should know about a byelectionwithpolitical futures at stake.

Battleground in play

St. Boniface hadfirmly belonged to formerNDPleader GregSelingerfrom 1999, when he was first elected in the riding. He even won in 2016, when theparty he ruled was walloped, winningjust 14seats.

Selinger resigned earlier this year after sexual harassment allegations were made against Stan Struthers, who was a cabinet minister when Selinger was premier.

St. Boniface has historically flipped between theNDPandLiberals.

The race is on to replace longtime MLA and former premier Greg Selinger

7 years ago

Duration 2:02

The resignation of NDP MLA Greg Selinger has likely quickened the pulse of many political types as the race to win a coveted seat in the Legislature begins.

NeilGaudryheld the riding for the Liberals for more than adecadeuntil he died of a heart attack in 1999.

Selingerwon the2016 vote with less than half of the popular vote for the first time. He won over42.4 per cent of voters, while Ka earned a quarter of theirsupportfor the Progressive Conservatives and Alain Landry, representingthe Liberals, garnered 19.4 per cent.

Lamont, a former political science professor, and Tona, a human-rights activist and educator, have the best shot at winning this year, observerssay.

Early turnout encouraging

The success of advance polling in St. Boniface might bode well for the turnout on Tuesday.

Elections Manitoba says 1,143 people voted in advance, out of at least 12,000 eligible voters a "very good turnout," saidChristiana Jones, communications officer with Elections Manitoba.

"Wetend to see a pretty high voter turnout in St. Boniface," she said."They're a pretty engaged division so it's about on par from what we were expecting."

For comparison's sake, 676 advance ballots were castout of a potential 11,000 plus in the Point Douglasbyelection.

Casting a vote

For the first time, all voters are required to show identification to prove who they are: either one piece of government-issued photo identification, or two pieces of ID without photos.

Until now, people whose names appeared on the voters list did not need to prove their identity by producing identification, except for advance voting.

People can exercise their democratic rightto vote at one of 27 polling stations.

Eligible voters should have received literaturefrom Elections Manitoba telling them where to cast their ballot.

If they did not, voters can contact the returning office, at 774 Archibald St., at 204-948-0566 or at rosaintboniface@elections.mb.ca to find their ballot box.