Thousands vote against Bonshaw reroute

More than 4,000 votes against the realignment of the Trans-Canada Highway in Bonshaw, P.E.I. were cast in an online petition.

"We were pretty overwhelmed by the amount of voting that happened," said Alison Mills, one of the organizers.

The results of the online survey were released on Canada Day. There were4,281 votes, and about 90 per cent said they didn't support the government's planto realign the highway.

The rerouting of the highwaywill cost $16 million. Itinvolves 34 private properties, including 10 homes. The province hasset asideanother $4 million to purchase properties.

'We were pretty overwhelmed by the amount of voting' Alison Mills, organizer

Opponents say changes to the highway will ruin their views and hurt the environment.

Chris Ortenburger, another petition organizer, said they asked the government to carry out an officialplebiscite but didn't get an answer.

So, they launched their own initiative.

"From then on it became our research, wanting to do it in as fair a way as possible so that all Islanders would feel that whatever their feelings are on this, they had an opportunity, over a short period though, to cast their vote,"Ortenburger said.

The group allowed people to mail in ballots as well.

Only two votes were allowed per IP address and two ballots per envelope. But the group cannot guarantee that people didn't vote more than once from different computers.

The governmentdid not comment on the results.