Canada Elections Act

Marginal note:Registration desks

• 39 (1) The returning officer shall establish one or more registration desks in accordance with the instructions of the Chief Electoral Officer.

• Marginal note:Appointment of registration officers

  (2) The returning officer shall appoint, for each registration desk, a registration officer to receive, on polling day, the applications for registration of electors whose names are not on the list of electors.

• Marginal note:Solicitation of names

  (3) Before appointing registration officers, the returning officer shall solicit names of suitable persons from the candidates of the registered parties whose candidates finished first and second in the last election in the electoral district, to be submitted to the returning officer no later than the 17th day before polling day. If, by that time, a sufficient number of names of suitable persons are not provided by those candidates, the returning officer may solicit names from other sources.

• Marginal note:Equal distribution of appointments

  (4) The returning officer shall, as far as possible, appoint half of the registration officers from among the persons recommended by each of the candidates under subsection (3). If either of those candidates did not provide a sufficient number of names of suitable persons, his or her registered party’s remaining share of the appointments shall be made from among the names solicited by the returning officer from other sources.