Press release No. 8 - By-elections of November 9, 2015 - Electors start voting tomorrow in the electoral divisions of Beauce-Sud, Fabre, René-Lévesque and Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne

QUEBEC CITY, Oct. 29, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - The Chief Electoral Officer of Québec reminds the 190 000 electors of the Beauce-Sud, Fabre, René-Lévesque and Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne electoral divisions that there are various ways for them to exercise their right to vote in the by-elections of November 9.

Several ways to exercise your right to vote

Voting at the office of the returning officer and mobile polling

From tomorrow, it will be possible to vote at the main office of the returning officer. The electors can exercise their right to vote :

• on October 30, from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.;
• on October 31, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.;
• on November 3 and 4, from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.;
• on November 5 from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.

On the same days, mobile polling will also take place, either domiciliary voting or voting at a residential facility. In order to receive a visit from electoral personnel, electors must have filed an application for the service with the returning officer. However, an elector residing at a residential facility may ask to exercise his right to vote when the election officers are on site if the elector is registered on the electoral list at the address of the facility.

Advance polling

Advance polling will take place on Sunday, November 1 and Monday, November 2, from 9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Electors wishing to vote in this way must remember that there are fewer polling stations at their disposal than there are during ordinary voting and that there may sometimes be a certain wait. Past election experience has also shown that these slowdowns are more likely to occur when polling stations first open. 

To learn the address of the advance polling station assigned to them, electors may consult the special section dedicated to by-elections on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer, or contact the Information Centre at:

1-888-ELECTION (1-888-353-2846) or 
1-800-537-0644 – telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD).

The address of the advance polling stations also appears on the voter information card distributed in the electoral divisions in mid-October.

Advance polling will also take place at a certain number of health-care facilities and residences for the elderly registered with the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux.

Voting on polling day

On November 9, polling stations will receive electors from 9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Identifying electors

Electors must provide proof of identity in order to exercise their right to vote, no matter where they choose to do so. Proof of identity may be established by presenting any one of the following documents:

• Québec health insurance card
• driver's licence
• Canadian passport
• certificate of Indian Status or
• Canadian Armed Forces ID.

The revision of the list of electors

Registration on the list of electors is a pre-requisite for exercising their right to vote.

Electors who wish to make changes on the list of electors have until November 5, 2015, at 2:00 to register, to ask for a correction or to have their name struck off the list. To do so, they must go to the returning officer's office. The revision boards are open from 9:00 am to 9:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday and from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p. m. on Saturday and Sunday. The address of the returning officer's office may be found on the Chief Electoral Officer's website, on the section giving "Information on the electoral divisions".

Any application for registration filed in a revision board must be accompanied by at least one identity document mentioning the elector's name, his date of birth and his domiciliary address. Moreover, contrary to the procedure in effect before October 27, electors must file their application on their own behalf.

Those registering on the list of electors since October 27, will not be able to exercise their right to vote through advance polling on November 1 and 2, 2015, but only on polling day, i.e. on November 9, 2019, or at the office of the returning officer on the dates aforementioned. 

Lastly, it is important to remember that, Election Act does not allow for electors to register on the list of electors on polling day.

For more information…

To obtain more information concerning the exercise of one's right to vote, please consult the website of the Chief Electoral Officer.

All this information is also available from the Information Centre of the Chief Electoral Officer, during the week from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The electors can also contact the Information Center over the weekend of Saturday October 31 (from noon until 5:00 pm) and Sunday November 1 (from 8:30 am until 8:30 pm), and on the weekend of November 7 and 8 (from noon until 5:00 pm).These extended hours are in force for the duration of the electoral period. All requests for documents may be sent to the Information Centre as well.

SOURCE Directeur général des élections

Denis Dion, Information Officer, 418-644-3320 or 1-888-870-3320, [email protected]