Registration at the Polls

Elections Canada strongly encourages you to make sure that your name appears on the voters list for an election or by-election. If you are not registered on the voters list, you can register:

• during the 28-day revision period, beginning on the 33rd day before election day, and ending at 6:00 p.m. (local time) on the sixth day before election day
  
  
• at the polling station during an advance poll, or
  
  
• at the polling station on election day

Finding your polling station

If you are not registered on the voters list, or you have not received a voter information card from Elections Canada showing the address of your polling station, you can get the address by telephoning the Elections Canada office in your electoral district. Click here to find your electoral district. You could also check the address on a voter information card received by another elector in your household.

Registering at an advance or ordinary poll

To have your name added to the voters list at either an advance or ordinary poll, you must register with the deputy returning officer. Once you sign the Registration Certificate that the deputy returning officer completes for you, and you show satisfactory proof of your identity and address, you can then vote. Electors can prove their identity and address in one of three ways:

• provide one original piece of identification issued by any level of Canadian government or an agency of that government that contains the elector's photo, name and address; or
  
  
• provide two original pieces of identification from a list authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Both must contain the name of the elector and one must also contain the elector's address; or
  
  
• be vouched for by an elector whose name appears on the list of electors in the same polling division and who has an acceptable piece or pieces of identification. Both will be required to make a sworn statement. An elector cannot vouch for more than one person, and the person who has been vouched for cannot vouch for another elector.

At an ordinary poll, you may also register with a registration officer. If you register with a registration officer, one representative of each candidate in the electoral district is entitled to be present. Registration officers are appointed by the returning officer on the recommendation of the candidates of the registered political parties that finished first and second in the electoral district in the previous election.

Acceptable types of identification

It is estimated that some 85 percent of eligible voters have driver's licences issued by their province or territory that contain a photo and the name and address¹ of the holder. Other electors will be required to present two authorized pieces of identification – one showing their name, and the other showing both their name and address. For example, while electors may choose to use a Canadian passport, a provincial health card or a birth certificate as proof of name, a utility bill or a bank statement are examples of documents that can be used as proof of address.

The list of identification and documents that have been authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer can be found here.

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

¹ Some driver's licences contain a commercial or address. To be used as the single piece of elector identification, the licence must contain the holder's personal address.