Backgrounders

Services for Persons with Special Needs

Elections Canada offers information, education and accessibility services to persons with special needs, seniors and those with limited reading and writing skills. Material is available in multiple formats: large print, Braille, DVD and CD.

These are some of the services provided by Elections Canada for persons with special needs:

• information, e-mail access and special ballot registration forms, available at www.elections.ca
  
  
• a dedicated page on the Elections Canada Web site, providing information to voters with special needs
  
  
• documents written specifically for persons with disabilities, including reading difficulties
  
  
• a sign-language DVD with open- and closed-captioning for people who are deaf or hard of hearing
  
  
• a voting template for persons with a visual disability
  
  
• a large-print list of candidates
  
  
• a toll-free information line for people who are deaf or hard of hearing:
  TTY 1-800-361-8935 (toll-free in Canada and the United States)
  
  
• mobile polling stations for certain types of institutions, as specified in the Canada Elections Act, where seniors or persons with disabilities reside
  
  
• a special ballot that allows early voting by mail, in person at the local Elections Canada office or at home in the case of people who cannot read or who cannot go to the local Elections Canada office because of a physical disability
  
  
• help with registration at the advance polls and on polling day
  
  
• options for voting at advance polls, polling stations and local Elections Canada offices that have guaranteed level access (Elections Canada takes every measure possible to select level-access polling sites; accessibility is indicated on the voter information card)
  
  
• transfer certificates to permit persons who use wheelchairs or who have other physical disabilities to vote at facilities that provide level access if, in exceptional cases, their own polling sites do not provide this
  
  
• language or sign-language interpreter services on request
  
  
• assistance, at the voter's request, in marking the ballot at the advance polls, the polling station or the local Elections Canada office
  
  
• in hospitals and certain residential institutions, transferring the ballot box from room to room to facilitate voting

Between electoral events, staff at Elections Canada in Ottawa provide ongoing information and education services. During an election or referendum, Elections Canada in Ottawa answers requests for information or directs them to the appropriate local Elections Canada office.

Before an election or referendum, Elections Canada provides training for all returning officers across the country on accessibility and awareness of special needs.

For more information, please contact:

Elections Canada
257 Slater Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0M6

Telephone

1-800-463-6868
toll-free in Canada and the United States

001-800-514-6868
toll-free in Mexico

613-993-2975
from anywhere in the world

For people who are deaf or hard of hearing:
TTY 1-800-361-8935
toll-free in Canada and the United States

Fax

613-954-8584
1-888-524-1444
toll-free in Canada and the United States

This publication is available in multiple formats.

January 2008