You might find a bright yellow envelope from Elections New Brunswick in your mailbox this week.
It’s that time of year when Elections NB is asking people to update or correct their information. Whatever’s in the yellow envelope is how you appear on the New Brunswick voters list, and you can call Elections NB to correct or update it.
Having a correct and up-to-date voters list will make things more efficient on May 10, says Chief Electoral Officer Kim Poffenroth.
The yellow envelopes also contain information about where, when and how you can vote on May 10 for municipal council, district education council, and regional health authority board candidates.
You are eligible to vote in municipal, school district and health region elections if you:
- are a Canadian citizen,
- are 18 or older on election day,
- live in the municipality, school district, or health region in which you are voting on election day,
- and have been “ordinarily resident” in the province for at least 40 days immediately before May 10.
“Ordinarily resident” was the subject of much controversy during the September provincial election, when students were incorrectly turned away from polling stations by Elections NB poll workers, despite a call from Kim Poffenroth attempting to correct the situation. The term implies that a person’s main household is in the province, and so rotational workers, students who spend summers working elsewhere, and even snowbirds who spend months away during winter months, would still qualify as “ordinarily resident”.
Poffenroth is encouraging people to vote early, at advance polling stations on May 1 or May 3, or anytime at a returning office. As of next Monday, people will also be able to request a vote-by-mail package from the Elections NB website.
Elections New Brunswick also opened its call centre Monday, March 15. The centre will be open Monday to Saturday, allowing people to call 1-888-858-8683 to update their voter information or ask other questions they have about the May elections.
