Who Is Eligible To Vote?

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You are entitled to vote if you are a Canadian citizen who will be 18 or older on polling day.

Casting Your Vote The methods you can use to vote. Who Is Eligible To Vote? The requirements for voting eligibility in Canada. How Do I Register To Vote? What you need in order to get on the voters list. How Do I Vote From Overseas? How to vote from almost anywhere in the world. Military Personnel The special voting requirements for Canadian military personnel. How Canadian Government Works A look at the Canadian Parliamentary system. Election Countdown Federal procedures leading up to election day. Handy Links Election-related resources.

Been away from Canada

If you are a person who is eligible to vote and have been living away from Canada for less than five consecutive years since your last visit home, you are eligible to vote. Incarcerated electors serving a prison sentence in a Canadian correctional institution, have the right to vote.

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How Do I Vote From Overseas?

If you qualify to vote, you can do it, by mail, from virtually anywhere in the world.

Follow this simple, three-step process:

1. Check if you are eligible to vote

2. Register for a special ballot. The link below will show you how.

3. Use the voting kit that Elections Canada will send you at the address you provide to vote by mail.

Warning from Elections Canada: Plan to vote early. Elections Canada won't be able to get a ballot to voters if you apply too late; and, by law, your vote cannot be counted if it arrives after the deadline.

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Elections Canada estimates there are about 200,000 "snowbirds" who are planning to escape the Canadian winter south of the border. They would like to see all of them voting.

Canada's chief electoral officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, says an ad campaign will be launched in newspapers in the American states and the parts of Mexico most frequented by Canadian snowbirds to tell people how to vote by mail.

Elections Canada is also putting up posters at airports, passport offices and at Canadian Automobile Association locations, all aimed at snowbirds.

During the last election, held in June, 2004, about 50,000 ballots were cast by mail.

No fixed address

An elector who is homeless or without a fixed address can vote if he or she registers on the voters list during an election. To register, the elector must provide proof of identity and the address where he or she is staying.

Proof of identity can be an official document bearing the elector’s name and signature. For residence, the address of a local shelter is acceptable, if the shelter has provided food, lodging or other social services to the elector. Without such proof, a person who is homeless can register on election day by taking the prescribed oath as to identity and residence, as long as another voter who is registered in the same electoral district can vouch for that person.

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Recently turned 18

Elections Canada identifies new 18-year-olds through information transmitted by the Canada Revenue Agency, registrars of motor vehicles, and provincial and territorial organizations responsible for lists of electors.

Each year, the Chief Electoral Officer writes to individuals who turn 18 to ask them to consent to being included in the National Register of Electors and to make any corrections to their personal information

If you provided the information requested, you should be registered to vote and will receive a voter information card in the mail shortly after an election is called.

If you do not receive a voter information card, or the information on it is incorrect, please get in touch with your returning officer right away to ensure you are registered to vote.

Prisoners

Canadians who are currently in a correctional institution or a federal penitentiary in Canada may vote by special ballot in a federal election regardless of the length of their sentences.

An incarcerated elector can register by filling out an Application for Registration and Special Ballot form. They will vote in their institutions on the 10th day before polling day and their ballot will be counted on election day along with other ballots.

The incarcerated voter’s electoral district is not the institution in which he or she is serving a sentence. In stead, it is the first of the following: his or her residence before being incarcerated; or the residence of the spouse, the common-law partner, a relative or dependant etc. with whom the elector would live if not incarcerated; or,the place where the elector was arrested; or the last court where the elector was convicted and sentenced.

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Not registered

If you are not registered to vote and would like to be, simply contact Elections Canada at: 1 800 463-6868
toll-free in Canada and the United States.

Source: Elections Canada