The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

TE MUNICIPAL ELECTION Continued from page 4 this is a region that has close to 600,000 people in it now," he added, noting plenty of room for uptake. While doesn't dates, it links to some infor- mation provided by organi- zations such as the Water- loo Region Labour Council and SPECTRUM that h: surveyed candidates about vocacy group can give peo- ple guidance as to which candidate they might pre- fer," Nijjar said. The waterlooregionvo- tes.org website is separate otes.com a joint effort between all lo- cal municipalities to spread the word about the Oct. 24 election. According to City of Wa- same branding across all lower-tier municipalitic and the region and will am- plify the message with so- cial met accounts, e- newsletters and ads closer to the election. A section of the city's election website is innaril ed to helping university and college students, with voting locations planned at the UW Student Life Cen- tre and WLU Concourse. After recently announc- ing that voter cards were being resent to residents due to an error, the city has also begun its messaging Signs line the boulevard along Bronte Road in Oakville. Some say new restrictions disallowing the signs on regional roads here have dit election. about advance voting op- portunities that could be handy for. those celebrat- ing the Diwali holiday on voting day. Blamed partly on voter apathy created by - VID-19 pandemic, provin- cial voter turnout of 43.5 per cent this past spring was the lowest ever for an feels the turnout relatively low for the mu- nicipal election too, all things considered. “But I think that this isa really, lessness, housing and fi- nancial burden brought on by COVID-19. "There's some really tough issues that are com- ing up and the peop! ple t that we elect for those Positions really going t big influence." While some seats on lo- cal councils have already won uncontested, “there's lots of non-incum- bent seats in very impor- tant roles," Nijjar added. Compared to federal and provincial elections in which people often feel like their vote is lost and doesn't carry much impact, Nijjar reminds people that municipal election races are often decided by doz- ens, or just handfuls, of votes. Prk oe in Kitchener, itherington defeat- abe sabbie Chapman by just one vote — 1,689 to 1,688 — to win the Ward 9 seat. In 2018, in Waterloo's Ward 2, Royce Bodaly re- ceived just 18 votes more (781 or 27.1 per con of the vote share) than t] eC- ond-place nner “162), o Ey 8 2 Ey s Fa 5 = Fy a a 3 £ ° 8 ES g 8 5 8 8 8 Metroland file photo inished the profile of the with 2,879 of 8,664 eligible ballots cast. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: A grassroots group made up of members from Waterloo Region's tech community has devel- up with one of its member to learn more. On October 24th re-elect JIM ERB WATERLOO REGIONAL COUNCIL A responsive, reliable and respectful voice. Find out more at www.jimerbwaterloo.ca eo 'e[2]UOIYDOOLETEM