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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Record number of voters itching to cast ballot

By: Bartley Kives

Posted: 10/23/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

A record number of Winnipeggers voted in advance polls.

At the close of advance polls Friday, 29,216 people voted, senior election official Marc Lemoine said. That's up from the previous advance poll record of 15,447, set in 2006.

More advance polling locations and more advance polling dates led to the increase, Lemoine said.

He predicted record voter participation on election day, Oct. 27. The city record was set in 1971, when 60.7 per cent of eligible voters went out to the polls.

Voter participation was 38.2 per cent in 2006.

Lemoine warned Winnipeggers who intend to vote on Wednesday to visit the polling station listed on their voter cards. Those who didn't get a voter card should call 311 to find out where to go.

That's a wrap

MAYOR Sam Katz's plans for the future are haphazard, challenger Judy Wasylycia-Leis claimed Friday as she held the final press conference of her campaign.

Addressing reporters in St. Boniface, Wasylycia-Leis presented a 12-page summary of her campaign promises, which range from a commitment to complete the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor as a busway, to a pledge to raise property taxes two per cent a year over the next four years.

She said she knows the latter pledge may not be popular in some quarters but believes it would be dishonest to promise otherwise.

The city faces an operating deficit as well as an infrastructure deficit, she said.

"It's not a strategy to pretend our problems will simply go away," she said, again accusing Katz of having no revenue strategy.

Katz said his opponent needs a "reality check," insisting the city increased revenue and quadrupled the infrastructure-renewal budget without raising property taxes under his watch.

"It's rather unfortunate there have been many comments made by my opponent not based on truth in any way, shape or form," he said.

Wasylycia-Leis has held at least 14 press conferences since the mayoral campaign period began in May.

Katz has held seven and plans to hold an eighth early next week.

Katz leads Wasylycia-Leis: poll

SAM Katz has a 20-point lead over Judy Wasylycia-Leis among decided voters, according to an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Global News.

The Global-commissioned poll of 500 voters, conducted between Oct. 18 and 20, suggests Katz has the support of 59 per cent of voters, while Wasylycia-Leis has 39 per cent.

The poll has a 95 per cent certainty and a 4.4 per cent margin of error.

The results are similar to a Leger Marketing poll of 800 Winnipeggers conducted earlier this month for the Winnipeg Free Press and CBC News.

Among decided voters in that poll, Katz led Wasylycia-Leis by 11 points, 54 per cent to 43 per cent.

Candidate questionnaires online

Two Red River College instructors compiled more than 1,000 articles about the election on a non-profit website called winnipegelection.ca.

Information-technology instructors Kyle Geske and Jody Gills created the site in July to provide voters with more information about mayoral, council and school-trustee candidates.

As of Friday, their repository included 1,082 election articles, compiled form a variety of Winnipeg media websites, as well as 83 questionnaires completed by candidates.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 23, 2010 A7

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