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Administering an Election during the PandemicSpecial Report of the Chief Electoral Officer: Administering an Election during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Over a short period of time, an election brings together electors and election workers in large numbers in community buildings across the country. The ability to bring together communities in a display of commitment to democratic government is an important element of elections in Canada. And, yet, this element has also become a critical point of vulnerability.

Public health authorities have advised Canadians to keep their distance from one another: Canadians must limit interactions outside a small number of family members and friends and avoid congregating in public spaces. These new circumstances would have a direct impact on the administration of an accessible, safe and secure election during the pandemic.

New Challenges

The Act contemplates elections where electors are offered a range of voting options, including voting on election day or at an advance poll and voting by mail or at an Elections Canada office.

In order to deliver an election that is accessible, safe and secure for Canadians in varying circumstances, Elections Canada is of the opinion that a variety of voting options continues to be the preferred path. Elections Canada has commissioned research on the preferred voting method of Canadians in a pandemic context and, as of mid-August 2020, results indicate that the majority of individuals would vote in person, either at a polling station (29.4%), or at an advance polling station (28.6%), while a substantial share of individuals (21.8%) would vote by mail.

At this point, Elections Canada is not recommending Internet voting. Implementing such a change would require significant planning and testing to ensure that the agency preserves certain aspects of the vote, including confidentiality, secrecy, reliability and integrity. Given the current operational and time constraints, this option cannot be explored properly at this time.

Any election in this context will likely involve a combination of adjustments to voting services.

Elections Canada has identified the following as key challenges in such a situation.

A) A Longer Voting Process

Physical distancing measures at polling places for both electors and election workers may mean that the voting process will take longer during the pandemic. On the advice of public health authorities, the agency will work to limit the number of electors and workers present at polling places at one time. At the next election, the number of polling stations within a polling place may be reduced to allow for more space between electors in queues at busy times during the day. Electors will be asked to maintain physical distancing in line inside or outside the polling place and comply with local and provincial health and safety guidance.

B) Fewer Election Workers

During the 43rd general election, 232,000 workers were appointed to register and inform electors, issue ballots, organize polling stations, and perform the numerous tasks required to administer a federal election.

Recruitment on such a scale would be a significant challenge during the pandemic. Even with adequate personal protective equipment, potential workers may feel that the risk of infection is too high to work during the election. This may be particularly true for the large segment of our traditional workforce that is older and especially vulnerable to the effects of COVID 19. At the 43rd general election, 47% of election workers were 60 years old or older and 18% were 68 years or older. If the participation of this cohort were to decline significantly, there would be a considerable impact the availability of staff at polling places.

As a consequence of both the anticipated recruiting challenges and physical distancing measures, we anticipate that a single election worker will be assigned to each table serving a poling division, rather than having workers sitting in pairs.

C) Non-Traditional Polling Places

The pandemic will likely impact the availability of polling places. Despite precautions that can be taken during and after polling day, some landlords may choose not to open their buildings to the public because of the perceived risk of infection. This may be particularly true for schools, churches, and other community facilities that serve vulnerable groups. Schools and churches make up a large segment of the polling places used across the country. Elections Canada is evaluating the possibility of using alternative non-traditional options for polling places.

Responding to New Challenges

All of the factors described above point to the need for both a longer voting period at ordinary polls and for greater flexibility for election administrators to respond to national and local circumstances. Some of the changes are best achieved through legislative measures designed to modify the way certain provisions of the Act are applied.

Element 1: An Extended Voting Period

The key substantive change recommended by Elections Canada is the adoption of a two-day voting period over Saturday and Sunday and a reduction of voting hours from 12 to eight per day.

This measure offers a number of advantages:

  • The voting process would be spread out over a 16-hour period rather than a 12-hour period, so that fewer electors can be present at polling places at the same time. The weekend would allow a steadier flow of electors over two weekend days, encouraging physical distancing, as opposed to the clustering of electors that takes place at the polls before and after a Monday workday.
  • With two eight-hour voting periods, there would be an opportunity for synchronized instead of staggered voting hours across the country. Both options are presented in the model statute at Annex B.
  • Many individuals who would normally be at school or at work on Mondays would be available to staff the polls over a weekend polling period. Individuals reluctant to work a 12-hour day may be more likely to apply to work an eight-hour day.
  • Reducing the voting period from 12 to eight hours per day would reduce the need for shifts and allow the polls to be staffed with a smaller, less fatigued, workforce. Delaying the opening by one hour also allows more time to set up polling places in a manner that reflects public health guidelines.
  • Buildings that would normally not be available on a Monday may be available on the weekend. Notably, schools would more likely be available as polling sites if students are not present.

For some electors or candidates week-end voting will be in conflict with days of religious significance. However, the two-day period, in addition to other voting options, such as voting by mail or advance polls, would provide flexibility. An extensive advertising campaign would be conducted by Elections Canada to inform electors of available voting options and outreach could take place at a local level with affected communities.

Element 1.1

Provisions in the Act that fix polling day as a Monday and the hours of operation of ordinary polls would need to be temporarily superseded in order to set Saturday and Sunday as polling days.

Element 1.2

Given that polling day is a key organizational element of the Act around which the electoral calendar is established, the electoral calendar would need to be adjusted to reflect the change from a Monday polling day to a Saturday-and-Sunday polling period. Key elements such as the close of nominations for candidates, the deadline for registering for mail-in ballots, and the dates for the preparation and distribution of lists of electors to candidates and parties are all set out in the Act in relation to polling day. The Chief Electoral Officer would publish an updated electoral calendar without delay after the beginning of the election period.

Element 1.3

As a consequence of shifting to a Saturday-and-Sunday polling period, Elections Canada also recommends changes to the operation of advance polls. The days and hours for advance polls are set out in the Act: advance polls must operate from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday before polling day. It is recommended that advance polling days be moved to Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday before polling day to ensure a long enough period between advance polls and ordinary polls in order to update the list of electors. In addition, it is recommended that voting hours be reduced to eight hours a day to limit the number of workers required and the number of hours worked by each, and to allow time to sanitize voting locations between advance poll days. Elections Canada would compensate for these shorter hours during an election held during the pandemic by operating additional advance polls.

Element 1.4

Shifting polling day to Saturday and Sunday will mean that the deadline for the receipt of mail-in ballots will be Sunday. As there would likely be a significant increase in voting by mail during an election amid the pandemic, Elections Canada recommends that mail-in ballots sent before the deadline continue to be accepted until the next day to provide more time for reception and processing. A potential increase in volume and acceptance of mail-in ballots until Monday will result in a delay in the release of results for mail-in ballots and may, depending on the number of mail-in ballots cast in an electoral district, delay the provision of preliminary results for that electoral district.

Element 2: Long-term Care Voting

The most significant challenge for Elections Canada would likely be the administration of the vote for residents of long-term care facilities for seniors and people with disabilities.

Currently, Elections Canada serves long-term care facilities primarily through mobile polls. During the 43rd general election, over 5,000 long-term care facilities were served by mobile polls. The Act authorizes these polls to operate only on polling day in successive facilities.

The effects of the virus on facilities such as these have been disproportionately severe, and many facilities currently face a critical lack of personnel. Furthermore, rules on access to these facilities differ among provinces and change regularly.

Elections Canada is concerned that there would be a risk of spreading the infection if we were to proceed from facility to facility as required by the Act and that too few election workers would be available or willing to operate a poll at each facility. Further, it is not clear whether facilities in crisis will have the flexibility to accommodate Elections Canada's schedule. Rather, it is likely that, if voting is to take place in these facilities at all, it will be at a moment convenient to the facility.

Finally, Elections Canada believes that facility administrators will be reluctant to allow election workers to operate a poll in the lobby or common area, and so election workers will be required to proceed door to door or bed to bed, which will take much longer.

All of these anticipated circumstances lead the agency to recommend a temporary adjustment to the legislative parameters for voting in long-term care facilities. Specifically, it is recommended that the Chief Electoral Officer be authorized to prescribe the timing and manner in which voting would occur at these facilities. This would enable the agency to develop a service model that reflects the regulatory framework in each province; and to adapt to local circumstances.

Element 3: Adjusting the Adaptation Power

Section 17 of the Act allows the Chief Electoral Officer to adapt the provisions of the Act during an election or within 30 days after it, if an emergency, unusual or unforeseen circumstance or an error makes it necessary. The power is subject to restrictions. Currently, adaptations may be made solely for the purposes of enabling electors to vote and counting the vote. These are crucial aspects of the administration of an election, but they are only two discrete areas regulated by the Act. For example, section 17 would not currently permit the adaptation of provisions regulating any aspect of the Register of Electors, or the candidate nomination process, or to protect the health of electors and election workers, even if such changes were necessary to allow the election to proceed safely in the context of the pandemic.

It is recommended that section 17 be superseded by a provision that authorizes necessary adaptations within all areas of the Chief Electoral Officer's mandate while maintaining some prohibitions such as that of the extension of voting hours.