News release

Provincewide Voter Enumeration Starts Next Week

Electoral Office

Nova Scotians can expect a visitor at their apartment, condo, or house over the next couple of weeks.

Elections Nova Scotia enumerators will start going door to door, collecting information for the provincewide list of electors beginning on Thursday, Sept. 8.

Chief electoral officer Christine McCulloch reminded Nova Scotians today, Sept. 1, that they need to participate to ensure that they are able to vote in the next provincial election.

"This enumeration is part of the plan, announced in mid-April, to develop a made-in-Nova Scotia list of electors," she said. "It's important that everyone who is eligible to vote makes sure his or her name is on this list. The enumerators will only take a few minutes of your time, but those few minutes could make a big difference to you the next time you go to vote in a provincial election."

About 4,200 enumerators have been hired to collect and confirm voter information in the door-to-door canvass from Sept. 8 to Sept. 19.

If residents are not at home when an enumerator calls, a notice will be left in a mail box or under the door to advise people how to get their names on the list of electors. Enumerators will try two or three times in an effort to find someone at home.

Ms. McCulloch said the enumerators will be easy to spot.

"Nova Scotia enumerators will stand out from census-takers, federal enumerators or any other people knocking on your door," she said. "They will wear a white Elections Nova Scotia numbered ID badge which will tell you immediately that they are helping to prepare a provincewide list of electors. Each enumerator will also carry a letter of introduction from the chief electoral officer. The only information they will be seeking is the name, date of birth and address of any residents who are eligible to vote in a provincial election."

To be eligible to vote in a Nova Scotia election, an individual must be a Canadian citizen, 18 years or older on the date of an election, and have been a resident of Nova Scotia for six months or more prior to the election call.

"Obviously the list will evolve," said Ms. McCulloch. "We don't know now when the next provincial election will take place so we will have ways of ensuring that all people who turn 18 or who become citizens or residents can add their names to the list. For now, however, we want to get the bulk of the work on this list done and ready to use."

Ms. McCulloch said there will be enumerators working in every community across the province, except in the Chester-St. Margaret's electoral district, where an enumeration took place before the June 21 byelection.

Radio and newspaper advertisements will also tell people how to make certain that they are on the electors list and that their information is correct.

"It is a citizen's right, privilege and duty to vote," said Ms. McCulloch. "An accurate and permanent electors list will help ensure that eligible voters are ready when Nova Scotians are next invited to the polls."