A director with the Algoma District School Board says election signs that were seen in snowbanks in front of some Sault Ste. Marie schools on Tuesday have since been removed.
Asked on Tuesday about signs posted in the snowbanks in front of Northern Heights Public School and Boreal French Immersion Public School, Liberal candidate Gurwinder Dusanjh told SooToday his understanding is signs were not allowed on school property, but were allowed in the snowbank along the strip of land between the sidewalk and street, also known as the road allowance.
Dusanjh said he called Elections Ontario for clarification on the placement of signs outside of schools.
"I touched base with the local electoral office and they informed me that on school property is not permissible, but right outside the school property is permissible," said Dusanjh.
Laura Sylvis, team lead for media relations at Elections Ontario, told SooToday there are no campaign signs allowed on the voting location, which includes the entire property of the voting location, including parking lots, road allowances and all the boundaries associated with it are considered part of the voting location.
"The returning officer or deputy returning officer is the final arbiter and may take whatever action is necessary to preserve the secrecy of the ballot and maintain order at the voting location, including removing signs or advertisements from the voting location," said Sylvis.
Northern Heights Public School and Boreal French Immersion Public School are among the local schools that will act as polling stations on Thursday.
As such, election advertising is not allowed on or in front of the property, said Joe Santa Maria, associate director of corporate services and operations for the Algoma District School Board.
"Anywhere around the election sites, they cannot advertise and that includes the road allowance," said Santa Maria on Wednesday.
Santa Maria said the planting of signs in front of area schools may not have been intentional.
"Some of the candidates or their campaign managers may be doing this for the first time and not knowing those things, so it's an honest mistake in a lot of cases," he said.
By Wednesday morning the election signs had been removed from in front of the two schools.
Santa Maria said school board staff likely did not remove the signs.
"We usually request that the [Elections Ontario] returning officer takes care of that because they have the staff in place," said Santa Maria.