The 43rd Manitoba provincial election is today. The Manitoba Legislature consists of 57 seats and going into the day, 35 of those belonged to the Progressive Conservatives, 18 were represented by the New Democratic Party, the Liberals held 3 and one was vacant. The vacant seat was Morden-Winkler, a seat that became vacant when previous M.L.A. Cameron Friesen stepped down to seek the nomination for the federal Conservative Party of Canada in Portage-Lisgar which was won by Branden Leslie. Michael Ambrose is the Director of Communications and Public Information for Elections Manitoba and outlines times and regulations for the day. "Polls open at 8 a.m. and run all the way until 8 p.m. When you go to vote, make sure you bring ID. That will be either one piece of government-issued photo ID with your address, something like a driver's license, OR any other two pieces of ID. You can, but you don't need to bring your voter information card when you vote and it doesn't matter if you don't have one." With that in mind, people do need to meet certain requirements today if they do want to cast a ballot. "To vote, you need to be 18 years old, you need to have lived in Manitoba for at least 6 months before the election, and you need to be a Canadian citizen." Ambrose adds results should also come in much quicker than usual this evening after the polls close. "We're using vote counting machines for the ballot. It's still a paper ballot, voters still go and mark their ballot but then they go into the vote counting machine and most will be tabulated that way. We're expecting the results to start coming in within about an hour to an hour and a half after the close of polls. Maybe even faster." Four candidates have put their names forward for the Portage Riding which has been represented by Ian Wishart of the Progressive Conservatives for the past 12 years. Those candidates are: Arishya Aggarwal, Green Party Jeff Bereza, PC Ralph Dooley, Liberal Acacia Weselake, NDP Here is a complete list of voting locations for the Portage Riding DAKOTA PLAINS SCHOOL DAKOTA TIPI GAMING CENTRE ÉCOLE ARTHUR MEIGHEN SCHOOL GAINSBOROUGH COMMUNITY CLUB HIGH BLUFF COMMUNITY COOPERATIVE CLUB LA VERENDRYE SCHOOL LONG PLAIN REZ PLEX NORTH MEMORIAL SCHOOL OAKLAND RECREATION CLUB OAKVILLE COMMUNITY HALL ODDFELLOWS HALL POPLAR POINT COMMUNITY CENTRE SOUTHPORT AEROSPACE CENTRE ST. AMBROISE MMF RESOURCE/CULTURAL CENTRE STRIDE PLACE YELLOW QUILL SCHOOL Because most schools in the Portage School Division are being used as polling stations today, there will be no classes for students. For complete election coverage in the Portage Riding, ridings in and around Portage and the entire province, follow along here on Portageonline and watch our Manitoba Votes page. You can also tune in to any of our three stations after the polls close, Country 93, Mix 96 and 920 CFRY. Candidates running in nearby ridings Agassiz is the Gladstone, Neepawa, MacGregor, Carberry region. Four candidates are running and they include Jodie Byram for the PC's, Richard Davies for the Liberals, Danica Wiggins for the NDP and Mark Wilson for the Keystone Party. Lakeside is the Elie, Stonewall, Warren, and Teulon region and there are three choices. Trevor King (PC), Dan Rugg (NDP), and Neil Stewart (MLP). The Midland Riding includes Carman and Elm Creek and three people are on the ballot. The choices are Hannah Drudge (NDP), Jim Kane (MLP), and Lauren Stone (PC),. 189 candidates are running in the 57 different ridings in Manitoba. In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, PortageOnline encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the PortageOnline app.