Marginal note:Information in Register of Electors

99.1 The Chief Electoral Officer may, for the purpose of section 99, provide to the returning officer and assistant returning officer information contained in the Register of Electors.

Updated Preliminary Lists of Electors

Marginal note:Distribution of lists

104.1 Each returning officer shall, on the 19th day before polling day, distribute to each candidate in the electoral district who requests it, one copy in electronic form of the most current preliminary lists of electors for that electoral district.

• Marginal note:Transmittal of list

  (2) Each returning officer shall deliver to each deputy returning officer the revised list of electors or official list of electors, as the case may be, that the deputy returning officer needs to conduct the vote in his or her respective advance polling station or polling station. The list shall indicate each elector’s sex and date of birth.

• Marginal note:Transmittal to candidates

  (3) Each returning officer shall deliver to each candidate a printed copy and a copy in electronic form of a version of the revised lists of electors and the official lists of electors that does not indicate an elector's sex or date of birth.

• Marginal note:Candidates

  (3) A candidate who receives a copy of the preliminary lists of electors under section 94 or 104.1, or a copy of the revised lists of electors or the official lists of electors under subsection 107(3), may use the lists for communicating with his or her electors during an election period, including using them for soliciting contributions and campaigning.

• (c) no later than 48 hours after the close of nominations, the party is a registered party.

Marginal note:Elector to declare name, etc.

• 143. (1) Each elector, on arriving at the polling station, shall give his or her name and address to the deputy returning officer and the poll clerk, and, on request, to a candidate or his or her representative.

• Marginal note:Proof of identity and residence

  (2) If the poll clerk determines that the elector’s name and address appear on the list of electors or that the elector is allowed to vote under section 146, 147, 148 or 149, then, subject to subsection (3), the elector shall provide to the deputy returning officer and the poll clerk the following proof of his or her identity and residence:

  • (a) one piece of identification issued by a Canadian government, whether federal, provincial or local, or an agency of that government, that contains a photograph of the elector and his or her name and address; or

  • (b) two pieces of identification authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer each of which establish the elector’s name and at least one of which establishes the elector’s address.

• Marginal note:Clarification

  (2.1) For greater certainty, the Chief Electoral Officer may authorize as a piece of identification for the purposes of paragraph (2)(b) any document, regardless of who issued it.

• Marginal note:Person registered as an Indian

  (2.2) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(b), a document issued by the Government of Canada that certifies that a person is registered as an Indian under the Indian Act constitutes an authorized piece of identification.

• Marginal note:Oath

  (3) An elector may instead prove his or her identity and residence by taking the prescribed oath if he or she is accompanied by an elector whose name appears on the list of electors for the same polling division and who

  • (a) provides to the deputy returning officer and the poll clerk the piece or pieces of identification referred to in paragraph (2)(a) or (b), respectively; and

  • (b) vouches for him or her on oath in the prescribed form.

• Marginal note:Voting

  (4) If the deputy returning officer is satisfied that an elector’s identity and residence have been proven in accordance with subsection (2) or (3), the elector’s name shall be crossed off the list and, subject to section 144, the elector shall be immediately allowed to vote.

• Marginal note:Prohibition — vouching for more than one elector

  (5) No elector shall vouch for more than one elector at an election.

• Marginal note:Prohibition — vouchee acting as voucher

  (6) An elector who has been vouched for at an election may not vouch for another elector at that election.

• Marginal note:Publication

  (7) The Chief Electoral Officer shall publish each year, and within three days after the issue of a writ, in a manner that he or she considers appropriate, a notice setting out the types of identification that are authorized for the purpose of paragraph (2)(b). The first annual notice shall be published no later than six months after the coming into force of this subsection.

Marginal note:Requirement before administering oath

143.1 If a person decides to prove his or her identity and residence by taking the prescribed oath, the person who administers the oath shall, before doing so, orally advise the oath taker of the qualifications for electors and the penalty that may be imposed under this Act on a person who is convicted of voting or attempting to vote at an election knowing that he or she is not qualified as an elector.

Marginal note:Proof of qualification as elector

144. A deputy returning officer, poll clerk, candidate or candidate’s representative who has reasonable doubts concerning whether a person intending to vote is qualified as an elector may request that the person take the prescribed oath, and the person shall not be allowed to vote unless he or she takes that oath.

Marginal note:Proof of identity, etc., or oath not required

144.1 Once an elector has been given a ballot, no person shall require the elector to prove his or her identity and residence in accordance with subsection 143(2) or (3).

Marginal note:Name and address corresponding closely to another

146. If a name and address in the list of electors correspond so closely with the name and address of a person who demands a ballot as to suggest that it is intended to refer to that person, the person shall not be allowed to vote unless he or she takes the prescribed oath.

Marginal note:Person in whose name another has voted

147. If a person asks for a ballot at a polling station after someone else has voted under that person’s name, the person shall not be allowed to vote unless he or she takes the prescribed oath.

Marginal note:Name inadvertently crossed off list

148. If an elector claims that his or her name has been crossed off in error from an official list of electors under subsection 176(2) or (3), the elector shall not be allowed to vote unless the returning officer verifies that the elector’s name was crossed off in error or the elector takes the oath referred to in section 147.

Marginal note:Failure to prove identity or residence

• 148.1 (1) An elector who fails to prove his or her identity and residence in accordance with subsection 143(2) or (3) or to take an oath otherwise required by this Act shall not receive a ballot or be allowed to vote.

• Marginal note:When elector refuses to take improper oath

  (2) If an elector refuses to take an oath because he or she is not required to do so under this Act, the elector may appeal to the returning officer. If, after consultation with the deputy returning officer or the poll clerk of the polling station, the returning officer decides that the elector is not required to take the oath, and if the elector is entitled to vote in the polling division, the returning officer shall direct that he or she be allowed to do so.