Three Rivers election not run by Elections P.E.I. due to lack of time, staff

Elections P.E.I. says it is not administering the municipal election for the newly amalgamated Three Rivers because there was not enough staff or enough time to do the job.

Instead, the community is running its own election.

Tim Garrity, chief electoral officer of P.E.I., said his team was approached by municipal affairs earlier this fall to see if running the elections in Three Rivers was a possibility.

Garrity said there wasnot enough staff or time.

"Elections PEI, there are three staff, including myself, so there's a very small group of us that are working here and we've been planning for these four municipal elections that we are running since early this year."

Under Election P.E.I.'s mandate, it's responsible for running provincial elections, byelections, plebiscitesand school board elections. Garrity said in the last few years, Elections P.E.I. has been contracted by Charlottetown, Stratford, Cornwall and Summerside to run their elections.

As part of that, Elections P.E.I. has been responsible for all the prep work including booking locations, hiring workers andgetting supplies.

In order to run any more elections than they do, Garritysaid Elections P.E.I. would need atleast one more full-time employee,and it would mean changing the mandate, which is up to the province.

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