Global Initiative to Enfranchise People with Disabilities: Canada - www.electionaccess.org
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Canada

General Right to Vote
Constitution
(The Constitution Act 1982, last amended 2001)

  • Section 3 "Electoral Rights" states: "Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein."

Specific Inclusion of People with Disabilities
Constitution
(The Constitution Act 1982, last amended 2001)

  • Section 14 states: "A party or witness in any proceedings who does not understand or speak the language in which the proceedings are conducted or who is deaf has the right to the assistance of an interpreter."

Voter Assistance
Electoral Law
Canada Elections Act
(December 2000, last amended 2007)

  • Section 154, subsection (1) states: "The deputy returning officer, on request by an elector who is unable to vote in the manner prescribed by this Act because he or she cannot read or has a physical disability, shall assist the elector in the presence of the poll clerk."
  • Section 154, subsection (2) states: "The deputy returning officer shall, on request, provide a template to an elector who has a visual impairment to assist him or her in marking his or her ballot."
  • Section 155 states,
  • “If an elector requires assistance to vote, a friend or relative may accompany the elector into the voting compartment and assist the elector to mark his or her ballot.
  • No person shall as a friend assist more than one elector for the purpose of marking a ballot.
  • A friend or relative who wishes to assist an elector in marking a ballot shall first take an oath in the prescribed form, stating that he or she: (a) will mark the ballot in the manner directed by the elector; (b) will not disclose the name of the candidate for whom the elector voted; (c) will not try to influence the elector in choosing a candidate; and (d) has not, during the current election period, assisted another person, who is not a relative, to mark a ballot."
  • No friend or relative who assists an elector under this section shall, directly or indirectly, disclose the candidate for whom the elector voted."
  • Section 156 states, "A deputy returning officer may appoint and swear a language or sign language interpreter to assist the officer in communicating to an elector any information that is necessary to enable him or her to vote."
  • Section 159, subsection (1) states: "An elector who is in a wheelchair or who has a physical disability, and who is unable to vote without difficulty in his or her polling division because it does not have a polling station with level access, may apply for a transfer certificate to vote at another polling station with level access in the same electoral district."
  • Section 216 states, “If an elector is, because of a physical disability, unable to vote in the manner described in this Division, the deputy returning officer shall assist him or her by...
  • Completing the declaration on the outer envelope and writing the elector’s name where his or her signature is to be written; and
  • Marking the special ballot as directed by the elector in his or her presence and in the presence of another elector selected by the elector as witness.”
  • Section 243, subsection (1) states, “When an elector personally goes to the office of the returning officer and is unable to read or because of a physical disability is unable to vote in the manner described in this Division, the designated election officer shall assist the elector by
  • completing the declaration on the outer envelope and writing the elector’s name where his or her signature is to be written; and
  • marking the ballot as directed by the elector in his or her presence.”
  • Section 259, subsection (1) states, “If an elector is unable to read or because of a physical disability is unable to vote under this Division, the deputy returning officer shall assist the elector by

(a) completing the declaration on the outer envelope and writing the elector’s name where his or her signature is to be written; and
(b) marking the special ballot as directed by the elector in his or her presence and in the presence of the poll clerk.”

  • Section 409, subsection (1) states, "Personal expenses of a candidate are his or her electoral campaign expenses, other than election expenses, that are reasonably incurred in relation to his or her campaign and include...(d) in the case of a candidate who has a disability, additional personal expenses that are related to the disability.

Poll Worker Manuals
Central Poll Supervisors’ Manual- Ordinary Poll
(March 2011)

  • “Any elector with a disability or who cannot read is entitled to receive assistance to vote.” (p. 3)
  • “The following must be posted within the first 15 minutes...Level Access Sign (EC 10960) to designate a parking place for electors with a disability.” (p. 31)
  • Page 43 provides instructions regarding assisting a voter with a disability.
  • Page 44 provides instructions on assisting a voter with a visual impairment.

Advance Poll Election - Deputy Returning Officers’ and Poll Clerks’ Manual
(March 2011)

  • Repeats Central Poll Supervisors’ manual provisions.
  • Pages 58-9 include a chart telling poll officers how to assist disabled voters in using the voting template.
  • Page 60 provides an additional section regarding assistance by a disabled voter’s spouse, partner, or friend.
  • Page 60 lists how a deputy returning officer should assist a disabled person in casting their vote.
  • Page 61 provides a chart 

Mobile Poll Election - Deputy Returning Officers’ and Poll Clerks’ Manual
(March 2011)

  • Pages 4 and 53-56 repeat the exact same provisions as included in two manuals above.
  • Page 55 includes a provision allowing a disabled voter to view the list of candidates in large print.
  • Page 57 contains instructions on assisting a bedridden elector.

Ordinary Poll Election- Deputy Returning Officers’ and Poll Clerks’ Manual
(March 2011)

  • “Any elector with a disability or who cannot read is entitled to receive assistance to vote.” (p. 4)
  • Page 61-64 contain the exact same assistance provisions as the previous manuals.

Off-Site Voting
Electoral Law
Canada Elections Act
(December 2000, last amended 2007)

  • Section 157, subsection (1) states: "At a polling station that has been established in a home for the aged or in a chronic care facility, when the deputy returning officer considers it necessary, the deputy returning officer and the poll clerk shall: (a) suspend temporarily the voting in the polling station; and (b) with the approval of the person in charge of the institution, carry the ballot box, ballots and other necessary election documents from room to room in the institution to take the votes of electors who are confined to bed and ordinarily resident in the polling division in which the institution is situated."
  • Section 157, subsection (2) states: "When the vote of an elector who is confined to bed is taken, the deputy returning officer shall give the elector the assistance necessary to enable the elector to vote, and not more than one representative of each candidate may be present."
  •  Section 243.1, subsection (1) states, "On application of an elector who is unable to read, or who is unable to vote in the manner described in this Division because of a physical disability, and who is unable to personally go to the office of the returning officer because of a physical disability, the designated election officer shall go to the elector's dwelling place and, in the presence of a witness who is chosen by the elector, assist the elector by (a) completing the declaration on the outer envelope and writing the elector's name where the elector's signature is to be written; and (b) marking the ballot as directed by the elector in the elector's presence."
  • Section 243.1, subsection (2) states, "The election officer and the witness who assist an elector under subsection (1) shall indicate, by signing the note on the outer envelope, that the elector was assisted."
 
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