Changes to voter identification requirements made under the Conservative government’s new election laws have led to fears many Banff voters may be turned away at the polls on Oct. 19.
Under the controversial new Fair Elections Act, voters don’t just have to prove who they are, they have to prove where they live, either with government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s licence, or two other pieces of ID, including at least one with an address.
The new rules have several residents worried, including Banff town council, who point to the fact Banff only has post office boxes and the post office box number is what’s commonly listed on driver’s licences, not street addresses.
“I’ve lived in Banff for 39 years, and have had the same address for 27 years, and I don’t easily have an ID with my street address on it. There’s no ID that I can carry on me on a regular basis that allows me to vote,” said Banff Councillor Chip Olver. “My concern is people will turn up to vote and be turned away. How many will go home and come back and how many will even have the proper ID required? And then they don’t vote.”
The Conservatives argued the changes made in 2014 were meant to prevent electoral fraud, but critics have said the changes are an attempt to undermine democracy and an act of voter suppression.
The voter information card is no longer proof of address under the new ID rules.
The provisions for vouching, by which one elector could vouch for the identity and address of another, also have been repealed, though a new written oath allows an elector to attest to the address of another elector, but it has to be from the same polling division.
Another option to providing a one piece of government issued photo ID is to show two pieces of identification, such as personal cheque, bank statement, utility bill, with at least one showing the person’s address.
Elections Canada is confident Banff voters will be able to cast their ballots and urges residents to make sure they register to vote and update their voter information on the Elections Canada website
Voters can go to www.elections.ca/home.aspx to register to vote or call 1-800-463-6868 for help if they run into difficulties while trying to register.
Leanne Nyirfa, spokesperson for Elections Canada, said Banffites would be able to vote if the address on their ID, such as a driver’s licences, matches the address on their voter registration – and that can be a post office box number.
“The important thing is we’re really stressing is for people to go online and make sure they are registered to vote,” said Nyirfa.
“If you have the same address on your ID and voter registration, that’s going to be proof of identify and address.”
But Olver said the online voter registration process is frustrating and confusing – and notes sometimes the website page is down.
“I’ve been helping a few people do this and it’s not straight forward. It’s very confusing,” she said. “I had someone say, ‘I’m done, I’ve spent enough time on this.’ It should not be this difficult to vote.”
Councillor Olver tried to encourage her council colleagues to inform Banff voters about the steps they need to take to be able to vote, but in the end, council agreed to advertise the link to Elections Canada on municipality’s website and Town Page in the Outlook.
Mayor Karen Sorensen was happy to promote the link to Elections Canada’s homepage, but feared adding specific details might be confusing to voters, especially because of the pending school board election.
“I understand it’s a bit of a mess,” she said. “I think this is really important and I want people to vote, but I don’t like the onus being put on our staff to make sure residents understand.”
Stuart Carre, the Liberal Party’s campaign manager for the Bow Valley part of the Banff-Airdrie riding, was before town council Monday (Sept. 14), asking them to help inform residents of the voter ID changes.
“I would simply like to flag that issue as a concern, not a partisan concern at all, but a concern for you as council members and to ensure that your electorate has the right to vote,” said Carre.
“Even if that happened to have voted for the past 25 years, they are not necessarily going to be able to vote unless they go onto the Elections Canada website and make sure they are properly registered, otherwise we could be in for a very, very unpleasant voting day.”
