At least two candidates for municipal office in Centre Wellington Township are ready for a long campaign.
Incumbent Ward 5 councillors Walt Visser and resident Michael Wisniewski have filed papers to run for a council seat in the coming election.
Visser has made it a practice to start his campaign as early as possible, and that was Jan. 4 this year. Wisniewski is seeking a seat in the ward currently held by councillor Ron Hallman.
Clerk Marion Morris noted it is unusual to have two people file to run for council so early in the year.
She noted, too, that candidates will be facing some different rules this year, and said her department will be presenting the changes to election laws at a coming council meeting.
But, she noted, some changes have already been made. One of the most important is the election date, which has been moved from early November to Oct. 25 this year.
In other election years, candidates used to congregate at the clerks office on the deadline day at 5pm to see who else might be running. That is now changed. This year, the deadline to file is Sept. 10, but Morris said the provincial government has set the deadline at 2pm this time.
She added that many of the changes were made just prior to Christmas, so potential candidates are unlikely to know all of the changes, which includes campaign financing.
