Hamilton Centre residents head to the polls to vote for new MPP in byelection

Hamilton Centre residents are heading to the polls Thursday to vote for a new member of provincial parliament (MPP).

A byelection was called a month ago. It comes after former Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Andrea Horwath was re-elected as MPP last year and stepped down in the summer to become the mayor of Hamilton.

That means residents in the riding will have a new champion at the provincial level for the first time in 16 years.

The candidates running in the byelection are:

Voters can find their polling location on Elections Ontario.

The polls are open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Only Canadian citizens who are 18 or older and are residents of Ontario can vote in the byelection.

People on the voter list who bring a voter card to the booth, only need one piece of ID showing their name.

Anyone who isn't on the list needs a piece of ID with their name and address.

International identification or permanent resident cards are not accepted, but most documents issued by the Government of Canada, Government of Ontario or a municipality in Ontario can be used.

Voters without a permanent residence can register the location where they have returned most often to eat or sleep in the past five weeks as their residence. 

Voter turnout for advanced polls was a dismal 5.2 per cent.

That means of the 77,599 registered voters in Hamilton Centre, only 4,166 voters cast their ballots between March 8 and March 10.

Experts told CBC Hamilton that low turnout is expected to persist on Thursday because most byelections only draw attention of politically engaged residents, many of whom already have their minds made up.