Bill C-83

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First Reading

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	Polling Stations and Central Polling Places
Establish- ment of polling stations	120. (1) Each returning officer shall, for polling day, establish one polling station for each polling division.
Multiple polling stations	(2) A returning officer may, with the prior approval of the Chief Electoral Officer, establish several polling stations for a polling division if, because of the number of electors on the list of electors for the polling division, the returning officer believes it necessary for the conduct of the vote, and each of those polling stations is to be designated by the number of the polling division to which is added the letter A, B, C and so on.
Division of list of electors	(3) The returning officer shall divide the official list of electors for a polling division into as many separate lists as are required for the taking of the votes at each polling station in the polling division.
Certificate of returning officer	(4) To each portion of the official list of electors that is divided, the returning officer shall, before sending the portion to the deputy returning officer for the polling station, append a certificate signed by the returning officer in the prescribed form attesting to its correctness.
Level access	121. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a polling station shall be in premises with level access.
Exception	(2) If a returning officer is unable to secure suitable premises with level access for use as a polling station, the returning officer may, with the prior approval of the Chief Electoral Officer, locate the polling station in premises without level access.
Voting compart- ments	(3) Each polling station shall contain one or two voting compartments arranged so that each elector is screened from observation and may, without interference or interruption, mark their ballot.
Table or desk	(4) Each voting compartment shall be placed on a hard and smooth surface and shall have in it a suitable black lead pencil for the use of electors in marking their ballots.
Polling station in adjacent polling division	122. (1) If a returning officer is unable to secure suitable premises to be used as a polling station within a polling division, the returning officer may establish a polling station in an adjacent polling division and all the provisions of this Act apply as if the polling station were within the polling division to which it appertains.
Polling station in school or other public building	(2) Whenever possible, a returning officer shall locate a polling station in a school or other suitable public building and shall locate the polling station or the polling stations in a central polling place, at a place or places in the building that will provide ease of access to electors.
Polling station in federal buildings	(3) A returning officer may require the officer in charge of a building owned or occupied by the Government of Canada to make premises in that building available for use as a polling station, and the officer to whom the requirement is directed shall make every reasonable effort to comply with the requirement.
Central polling place	123. (1) A returning officer may, if he or she considers it advisable, place several polling stations together in a central polling place.
Number of polling stations	(2) A returning officer shall not group together more than 15 polling stations in a central polling place without the prior approval of the Chief Electoral Officer.
Presumption	(3) On the establishment of a central polling place under subsection (1), all of the provisions of this Act apply as if each polling station at the central polling place were within the polling division to which it appertains.
Appoint- ments at central polling place	124. (1) When a returning officer establishes a central polling place, the returning officer may appoint, with the prior approval of the Chief Electoral Officer,
	(a) an information officer to provide information to the electors; and
	(b) a person responsible for maintaining order.
Central poll supervisor	(2) When a returning officer establishes a central polling place that contains four or more polling stations, the returning officer may appoint a central poll supervisor to attend at the central polling place on polling day to supervise proceedings and keep the returning officer informed of any matter that adversely affects, or is likely to adversely affect, the proceedings.
Mobile polling station	125. (1) When a polling division consisting of two or more institutions is constituted under subsection 538(5), the returning officer may establish a mobile polling station to be located in each of those institutions successively.
Voting hours for mobile polling station	(2) The returning officer shall set the times during which a mobile polling station will be located in the institutions referred to in subsection (1).
Notice	(3) The returning officer shall give notice to the candidates of the itinerary of the mobile polling station in accordance with the instructions of the Chief Electoral Officer.
Provisions applicable to mobile polls	(4) Subject to the instructions of the Chief Electoral Officer, the provisions of this Act that relate to ordinary polls shall, in so far as they are applicable, apply to mobile polling stations.
	Prohibitions
Prohibitions re ballots, etc.	126. No person shall
	(a) forge a ballot;
	(b) without authority under this Act, print a ballot or what purports to be or is capable of being used as a ballot at an election;
	(c) print a ballot or what purports to be or is capable of being used as a ballot at an election with the intention of causing the reception of a vote that should not have been cast or the non-reception of a vote that should have been cast; or
	(d) manufacture, import into Canada, have in possession, supply to an election officer, or use for the purpose of an election, or cause to be manufactured, imported into Canada, provided to an election officer, or used for the purposes of an election, a ballot box that contains a compartment into which a ballot may be secretly placed or a device by which a ballot may be secretly altered.
	PART 9
	VOTING
	Voting Opportunities
Manner of voting	127. An elector may vote
	(a) in person at a polling station on polling day;
	(b) in person at an advance polling station during the period provided for the advance poll; or
	(c) by means of a special ballot issued in accordance with Part 11.
	Polling Day
	Hours
Hours of voting	128. The voting hours on polling day are
	(a) from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., if the electoral district is in the Newfoundland, Atlantic or Central time zone;
	(b) from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., if the electoral district is in the Eastern time zone;
	(c) from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., if the electoral district is in the Mountain time zone; and
	(d) from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., if the electoral district is in the Pacific time zone.
Daylight-savi ng time	129. The Chief Electoral Officer may, if he or she considers it necessary, set the voting hours for the electoral district so that the opening and closing of its polls coincide with the opening and closing of the polls in other electoral districts in the same time zone.
When polls lie in two time zones	130. When more than one local time is observed in an electoral district, the returning officer shall, with the prior approval of the Chief Electoral Officer, determine one local time to be observed for every operation prescribed by this Act, and shall publish the hours in the Notice of Election referred to in section 62.
By-elections	131. If only one by-election is held or if more than one by-election is held on the same day and all of them are in the same time zone, the hours of voting are from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
	Time to Employees for Voting
Consecutive hours for voting	132. (1) Every employee who is an elector is entitled, during voting hours on polling day, to have three consecutive hours for the purpose of casting his or her vote and, if his or her hours of work do not allow for those three consecutive hours, his or her employer shall allow the time for voting that is necessary to provide those three consecutive hours.
Time at convenience of employer	(2) The time that the employer shall allow for voting under subsection (1) is at the convenience of the employer.
Transporta- tion companies	(3) This section and section 133 do not apply to an employee of a company that transports goods or passengers by land, air or water who is employed outside his or her polling division in the operation of a means of transportation, if the additional time referred to in subsection (1) cannot be allowed without interfering with the transportation service.
No penalty for absence from work to vote	133. (1) No employer may make a deduction from the pay of an employee, or impose a penalty, for the time that the employer shall allow for voting under subsection 132(1).
Hourly, piece-work or other basis of employment	(2) An employer who pays an employee less than the amount that the employee would have earned on polling day, had the employee continued to work during the time referred to in subsection 132(2) that the employer allowed for voting, is deemed to have made a deduction from the pay of the employee, regardless of the basis on which the employee is paid.
Prohibition	134. No employer shall, by intimidation, undue influence or in any other way, interfere with the granting to an elector in his or her employ of the three consecutive hours for voting, as provided for in section 132.
	Proceedings at the Poll
Who may be present at polling station	135. (1) The only persons who may be present at a polling station on polling day are
	(a) the deputy returning officer and the poll clerk;
	(b) the returning officer and his or her representatives;
	(c) the candidates;
	(d) two representatives of each candidate or, in their absence, two electors to represent each candidate;
	(e) an elector and a friend or relative who is helping him or her by virtue of subsection 155(1), only for the period necessary to enable the elector to vote; and
	(f) any observer or member of the Chief Electoral Officer's staff whom he or she authorizes to be present.
Delivery of representa- tive's authorization	(2) When a representative of a candidate is admitted to a polling station, the representative shall deliver his or her written authorization from the candidate or the candidate's official agent in the prescribed form to the deputy returning officer.
Represen- tative authorized in writing	(3) A representative bearing a written authorization referred to in subsection (2) is deemed to be a representative of the candidate within the meaning of this Act and is entitled to represent the candidate in preference to, and to the exclusion of, any elector who might otherwise claim the right to represent the candidate.
Oath of secrecy	(4) Each representative of a candidate or each elector described in paragraph (1)(d), on being admitted to the polling station, shall take an oath in the prescribed form.
Presence of representa- tives	136. (1) A candidate or the candidate's official agent may authorize any number of representatives of candidates to be present at a polling station, but only two of each candidate's representatives may be present at any time.
Representa- tives may absent themselves from poll	(2) A representative of a candidate, or an elector described in paragraph 135(1)(d), may leave a polling station at any time and return at any time before the counting of the votes begins and is not required to produce a new written authorization from the candidate or official agent or to take another oath.
Examination of list of electors and conveying information	(3) A representative of a candidate may, during voting hours,
	(a) examine the list of electors, provided that the representative does not delay an elector in casting his or her vote; and
	(b) convey any information obtained by the examination referred to in paragraph (a) to a representative of the candidate who is on duty outside the polling station.
Communica- tions device	(4) A representative of a candidate shall not use a communications device at a polling station during voting hours.
Candidate may act as representa- tive	137. (1) A candidate may perform the duties of a representative of the candidate, or may assist the representative in the performance of those duties, and may be present at any place that the representative is authorized to attend under this Act.
Non-attend- ance of representa- tives	(2) The non-attendance of a representative of a candidate at any time or place authorized by this Act does not in any way invalidate any act or thing done during the absence of the representative if the act or thing is otherwise duly done.
Initialling ballots	138. (1) Before a polling station opens on polling day, and in full view of the candidates or their representatives who are present at the polling station, the deputy returning officer shall initial the back of every ballot in the space indicated in Form 3 of Schedule 1, entirely in ink or entirely in black lead pencil so that when the ballot is folded the initials can be seen. The initials shall be as similar as possible on each ballot.
Ballots not to be detached	(2) For the purpose of initialling, the ballots shall not be detached from the books in which they are contained.
Vote not to be delayed	(3) The opening of a polling station shall not be delayed for the purpose of initialling the ballots. Ballots that are not initialled when the polling station opens shall be initialled as soon as possible and in all cases before being handed to electors.
Counting of ballots before opening of poll	139. Candidates or their representatives who are in attendance at least 15 minutes before a polling station opens are entitled to have the ballots intended to be used at the polling station carefully counted in their presence before it opens and to inspect the ballots and all other documents relating to the vote.
Examining and sealing ballot box	140. When the polling station opens, the deputy returning officer shall, in full view of the candidates or their representatives who are present, open the ballot box and ascertain that it is empty, and shall
	(a) seal the ballot box with the seals provided by the Chief Electoral Officer for the use of deputy returning officers; and
	(b) place the ballot box on a table in full view of all present and ensure that the box remains there until the polling station closes.
	Admitting Voters
Calling electors	141. Immediately after the ballot box is sealed, the deputy returning officer shall call on the electors to vote.
Electors not to be impeded	142. (1) The deputy returning officer shall ensure that every elector is admitted into the polling station and that the electors are not disturbed when they are in or near the polling station.
One elector at a time	(2) A deputy returning officer may, if he or she considers it advisable, direct that not more than one elector for each voting compartment may at any time enter the room where the voting is held.
Elector to declare name, etc.	143. (1) Each elector, on arriving at the polling station, shall give his or her name and address to the deputy returning officer and the poll clerk, and on request to a representative of the candidate.
Voting	(2) The poll clerk shall ascertain if the name of the elector appears on the list of electors and, if it does, the elector's name shall be crossed off the list and, subject to section 144, the elector shall be immediately allowed to vote.

Bill C-83

Polling Stations and Central Polling Places

Prohibitions

PART 9

VOTING

Voting Opportunities

Polling Day