Backgrounders
Registration at the Polls
Elections Canada strongly encourages you to make sure that your name appears on the voters list for an election or by-election. If you are not registered on the voters list, you can register:
- during the 28-day revision period, beginning on the 33rd day before election day, and ending at 6:00 p.m. (local time) on the sixth day before election day
- at the polling station during an advance poll, or
- at the polling station on election day
Finding your polling station
If you are not registered on the voters list, or you have not received a voter information card from Elections Canada showing the address of your polling station, you can get the address by telephoning the returning office in your electoral district. To find your electoral district, visit the Elections Canada Web site at www.elections.ca. You could also check the address on a voter information card received by another elector in your household.
Registering at an advance poll
To have your name added to the voters list at an advance poll, you must register with the deputy returning officer. Once you sign the Registration Certificate that the deputy returning officer completes for you, and you show satisfactory proof of your identity and address, you can then vote. Acceptable proof of your identity and address is:
- one valid official document showing your name, address and signature (such as a driver’s licence)
- two valid official documents, one showing your name and address (such as a telephone or electricity bill), and one showing your name and signature (such as a health card or a library card)
- an affidavit signed before a person authorized to receive oaths in the province or territory and showing the name, current address of ordinary residence and signature of the elector, or
- when the elector cannot provide any of these documents, a document showing the name and current address of ordinary residence of the elector’s spouse or of the person on whom the elector is dependent. Both the elector to be registered and the person whose name appears on this document must be present at the time it is offered, and they must reside together
Registering on election day
To have your name added to the voters list on election day at your polling station, you must either:
- present satisfactory proof of your identity and residence, or
- make a sworn statement of your identity and residence, and be accompanied by another elector already registered in the same polling division. That person vouches for you by making a sworn statement, and cannot vouch for anyone else.
Satisfactory identification is the same for registering on election day as it is for registering at an advance poll. You register with the deputy returning officer or a registration officer, who completes a registration certificate that you sign. You can then vote.
If you register with a registration officer, one representative of each candidate in the electoral district is entitled to be present. Registration officers are appointed by the returning officer on the recommendation of the candidates of the registered political parties that finished first and second in the electoral district in the previous election.
For more information, please contact:
Elections Canada
257 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0M6
Telephone
1-800-463-6868
toll-free in Canada and the United States
001-800-514-6868
toll-free in Mexico
613-993-2975
from anywhere in the world
For people who are deaf or hard of hearing:
TTY 1-800-361-8935
toll-free in Canada and the United States
Fax
613-954-8584
1-888-524-1444
toll-free in Canada and the United States
This publication is available in alternative formats.
October 2006