The warden of Richmond Co. says the 2020 municipal elections won’t be like any other.
Brian Marchand says they’ll have to campaign and vote differently because of COVID-19 health and safety considerations.
He says those make it basically impossible to door knock.
Marchand tells The Hawk it wouldn’t be a good idea to go into someone else’s home at this point.
“You can go, but speak from the doorstep or further away, as long as you’re the two metres away,” he says. “It better be fine weather when you’re campaigning, because standing out in the rain and cold might not be so fun.”
Marchand says there will be challenges running municipal elections as well.
He says physical distancing and hygiene standards make the kind of gathering required for an election difficult.
Marchand says there aren’t a lot of good options for alternative voting; poor Internet service, combined with an older population, make online polling unlikely to work.
He says they’re waiting for directives from their provincial counterparts to know exactly how this election is going to run.
