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Visiting Canadian 'Impressed' With Voters, Process

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By TED JACKOVICS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2008

2:51 p.m.: A city official from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is visiting Hillsborough County today to gather information about the technical equipment used in local voting as well as Hillsborough's voting process.

Gerry Berkowski of the city clerk's department in Winnipeg is accustomed to high voter turnout in city elections in the range of 60 percent. "This is unprecedented," he said of the turnout he's seen in Hillsborough, where election officials expect 80 percent of the electorate to vote today.

Berkowski said everything appeared to be operating quite smoothly. "I'm impressed," he said.

His first stop was at a precinct in Brandon at 6:15 a.m., where 50 people were lined up by the time he arrived. When he and his wife, Andrea Paci, left the polling place 15 minutes before it opened, more than 150 people were in line.

"This is really overwhelming, both in the numbers of people and the positive attitudes they have," he said. "They are patient in line, happy to wait and put their 'I Voted' stickers on, and the long lineups don't seem to bother them."

Winnipeg uses similar voting equipment, with both the paper ballot and the scanner systems. The city, however, is interested in upgrading its systems.

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