ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Newfoundland and Labrador's latest election changes are again under fire, with critics saying the all mail-in format risks disenfranchising many voters.

Patricia Johnson-Castle, the NDP candidate in the northern Labrador riding of Torngat Mountains, says her first thought upon hearing of the change Friday was that it amounted to voter suppression.

Johnson-Castle says voters in remote, fly-in communities on Labrador's north coast now face significant challenges getting ballots to St. John's by the March 5 deadline because of language barriers, spotty telecommunications and slow mail service.

Dan Meades, the provincial coordinator of the Transition House Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, says requesting a mail-in ballot requires a fixed address and either phone or internet service, which means people who don't have those things won't get to vote.

Less than 12 hours before polls were set to open Saturday in much of the province, Newfoundland and Labrador's elections authority called off all in-person voting in response to a COVID-19 outbreak and declared that all votes must be cast by mail.

Elections Newfoundland and Labrador did not immediately respond to requests for an interview today.

Johnson-Castle says many in Labrador's coastal communities don't have internet or home phones, making it impossible to request a ballot in the first place — especially with COVID-19 lockdown measures preventing them from using the phone or internet outside their homes.

Meades says people without identification or a fixed address can use a sworn affidavit to verify their identity at a polling station, but a mail-in election removes this possibility.

He says he worries the people who used that service in the past won't get to vote in this election.

"We're facing ... a wave of poverty in Newfoundland and Labrador like I don't believe we've ever seen before, and that includes during the cod moratorium," he said. "We need the voices of the most vulnerable to be top of mind in every decision that we make."

He says excluding them from the voting process now excludes them from the decision-making process down the road.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2021.

The Canadian Press