A by-election is being held in Battle River—Crowfoot, Alberta, today, drawing national attention for the presence of Conservative Party leader Pierre Pulievre. The seat was vacated after the resignation of former MP Damien Cork to make way for a new party leader.

Pulievre, who previously served seven consecutive terms in the riding of Carlton (Ottawa), lost his seat in the April election. Now, he is running in one of the Conservatives’ safest ridings and is expected to win by a wide margin.

More than 200 people are running against him, most of them members of the Longest Ballot Committee protest movement. That’s why Elections Canada is providing special ballots on which voters must write their preferred candidate’s name. This is causing the vote count to take longer than usual.

Polls are open from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Alberta local time). More than 14,000 people have already cast their ballots early, bringing the total number of eligible voters in the constituency to more than 86,000.

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