Voting info in the mail

Bill Wright knows where you live. Hopefully.

“We have about 94,000 people on our electors list,” says Wright, the returning officer for the federal election in Edmonton-St. Albert, and his team has to get in touch with all of them. They mailed out thousands of voter information cards last week to tell people where to vote. “People should start getting them at the beginning of next week,” he said last Wednesday.

Most Canadians are already on the National Register of Electors, according to Elections Canada, which is updated using information from income tax returns and driver's licence records.

But some voters on the register might have moved since the last election, Wright notes, and others might not even be on it — new voters, for example, or people who didn't give their birth-date when they registered for the last election.

Anyone who doesn't get a card in the mail by Thursday should come to the Elections Canada office at Grandin mall to register, Wright says — they're next to the movie theatre. Westlock–St. Paul voters should head to the Westlock Shopping Centre. You should also come in if your name or address on the card is wrong. You could register at the poll on election day, but that takes a lot of time.

You have to be over 18 and a Canadian citizen on election day to vote, according to Elections Canada. To register, you'll need a government-issued ID with your photo, name and address on it, or two pieces of ID with your name and address on them. A government cheque or your driver's licence would both work.

If you don't have any of those, you'll need to swear an oath and have another registered voter from your community vouch for you.

Wright is also looking for some 670 volunteers to help out on election night. Anyone interested, or with any other voting questions, should drop by the Elections Canada office at Grandin mall or call 1-866-432-1039.

Election day is May 2.