Calgary Drop-In Centre tests mobile polling station for election day

A huge push is underway this federal election to ensure that Calgary's homeless population will have a chance tovote on Oct.19.

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The Calgary Homeless Foundation held amock election on Monday at fourdifferent shelters to allow theirclients to experience the voting process.

With the help of ElectionsCanada, the foundationset up a voter registration booth at the Drop-In Centreto allowpeoplewith proper identificationto use thecentre as their place of residence.

A polling station willalso be set up at theDrop-In Centre on election day.

Believed to be 1st time

"It'sthe first time its been done, to my knowledge, in Canada," saidDarcy Halber, a spokesperson for the Calgary Homeless Foundation. "We are very excited that they have agreed to put a test site there."

Elections Canada says the returning officer for the CalgaryCentre riding requested the mobile polling station becausea lot of thepeople staying at the Drop-In Centre have trouble getting around.

"They found there was a number of people within that homeless shelter ...that did have mobility issues," said Elections Canada spokespersonLeanne Nyirfa."So in an effort to make sure that those people wereable to vote,and because there's other people who are going to be rightthere, they will open it up to others."

Nyirfasays mobile polling stations are often set up in hospitals or seniors' residences.

Removing barriers to vote

Shannon Forrest was one of the first in line to become a registered voter.

The 49-year-old is partially blind, and has been staying at the Drop-In Centresince she arrived from Ontario last November. She says a mobile polling station makes sense given the shelter'solder and fragile population.

"They have breathing problems,they can't walk,so this makes it very convenient for the people," said Forrest.

Halber says it was the Homeless Foundation's ClientAction Committee that initially approached Elections Canada torequest a polling station. She says mobility was just one of the reasons why.

Hundreds took part

"There are so many barriers that exist in thispopulation actually being able to vote. The more of those thatwe canremove,the easier its going to for them to be able to make their voice count or to be heard in this election."

Roughly 500 people took part in the mockelection.

Insteadof selecting a party or acandidate, voters were asked to choose their biggestconcernout of fourchoices:minimum income, affordable housing, harm reduction and mental health.

The results of the vote will be released later this week.