Strathcona Regional District Board Adopts Voting Bylaw No. 462

The Strathcona Regional District Board adopted Bylaw No. 462 last week, which will allow voting by mail ballot as an option for any qualified elector who prefers to use this form of voting instead of voting in-person at a polling station in the upcoming local government elections to be held on October 15th.

The Strathcona Regional District Board adopted Bylaw No. 462 last week, which will allow voting by mail ballot as an option for any qualified elector who prefers to use this form of voting instead of voting in-person at a polling station in the upcoming local government elections to be held on October 15th.

Previously, only electors who were ill or disabled, lived in a remote area or expected to be absent from their voting jurisdiction during an election could qualify for the mail ballot option.

The mail ballot option includes several safeguards to ensure public confidence in the voting results including:

Applications for a mail ballot will be subject to the same documentary requirements for verifying elector identity and residence location as in-person voting.

All mail ballot applications will be accessible by scrutineers before a ballot is provided to the applicant. This will allow challenges of an elector’s right to vote in accordance with the Local Government Act.

Once a mail ballot has been provided to an elector, that elector will be disqualified from receiving a ballot at any other voting location.

The use of the mail ballot option will also be extended to other types of voting such as referenda, assent voting and by-elections. Voters will still be able to vote in-person at any authorized polling station if they so choose.

For further information about the 2022 Local Election and voting process, please visit https://srd.ca/government/legislative-resources/local-elections-voting/