Yukoners can vote by special ballot 24/7 at drop box in Whitehorse

Ever wanted to vote in a general election in Yukon at 3 a.m.? There's a drop box for that.

Elections Yukon is collecting special ballots at all hours via a book depository a first for the territory that used to be for returning books to a library in the Yukon government'smain administration building in Whitehorse.

"It's about convenience for the electors," Maxwell Harvey, Yukon's chief electoral officer, said on Monday, also noting an expected bigger demand for special ballots in this COVID-19 pandemic-era election.

The drop box, which was opened on Friday, is located next to a door close to the intersection of Second Avenue and Hawkins Street.

People can open the drop box's outside door and drop in their ballot, akin to dropping a letter into a mailbox.

A special ballot kit, which is availableto all Yukoners eligible to vote,can be obtained by requesting one via Elections Yukon's website or in-person at any of its returning offices.

Once the ballot is filled out, the voter is supposed to put the ballot into a secrecy envelope, which isthenput into a certificate envelope.

The latter is used to confirm that the ballot is from someone eligible to vote, and it is later removed by staff before the secrecy envelope containing the ballot is dropped into the ballot box to eventually be counted.

A special ballot can be returned in-person to the voter's home-riding returning office (not just any returning office), by mail to Elections Yukon, or through the aforementioned drop box.

All ballots must be received by Elections Yukon by 8 p.m. on April 12, the day of the election.

More than 400 special ballots have been received so far, including four in the box, according to Harvey.