2011 District of Clearwater Municipal Elections

General Election Day is November 19, 2011.

No.

The proposed dates for advance voting in 2011 are:

November 9th, 2011 at the District of Clearwater Office

The District of Clearwater will be conducting Same Day Voter registration; therefore electors will register for voting on voting day. Remember, registration in advance of Advanced voting day or General Election Day is not required. In order to register, a person must meet the eligibility requirements and present acceptable identification.

You may vote in the Clearwater Municipal General Local Election as a resident elector if you:

1. are a Canadian citizen;
2. are, or will be, 18 years of age or more on General Voting Day (Saturday, November 19, 2011);
3. have lived in BC for at least 6 months prior to registration (May 17, 2011 is the last day to meet residency requirement if registering on General Voting Day);
4. have lived in Clearwater (or owned property in Clearwater for a non-resident elector) for at least 30 days prior to registration (October 19, 2011 is the last day to meet local residency requirement if registering on General Voting Day); and
5. are not disqualified from voting by the Local Government Act or any other enactment.

The following ID requirement must be met when registering at the time of voting:

1. At least 2 ID documents must be shown that provide evidence of the person’s identity and place of residence, at least one of which must contain the person’s signature, OR
2. At least 2 ID documents must be shown that provide evidence of the person’s identity, at least one of which must contain the person’s signature, and make a solemn declaration as to the person’s place of residence.

The following are examples of acceptable identification documents (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Canadian Passport
• BC Driver's License
• Certificate of Vehicle Insurance
• BC ID Card
• BC Care Card
• Credit Cards or Debit Cards
• Birth Certificate
• Canadian Citizenship Card
• Social Insurance Card
• BC Care Card or BC Gold Care Card
• Property Tax Notice or Utility Bill

On General Voting Day and on Advance Voting Day, people may request “curb-side voting,” which is a service whereby an elector may vote in their car with the assistance of an election official, provided the elector is able to drive to or be driven to the designated voting place which will be the Royal Canadian Legion building at #3-257 Glen Road, in Clearwater. If an elector requires assistance to read or mark a ballot, they are permitted to have the assistance of another person in the voting booth. Also, every effort is made to ensure that all voting places are accessible.

As in previous years, voting opportunities will be provided for residents of care facilities who would otherwise not be able to attend a voting place on General Voting Day. In the past, voting opportunities have be provided at Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital and Evergreen Acres. Similar arrangements will be made again this year in consultation with facilities staff to provide appropriate voting opportunities for people living in these facilities as appropriate.

The District publishes and distributes a voter’s guide in English. In addition, voting instructions and other voting information is posted at the voting places. Ballots are not available in other languages.

The Local Government Act allows people who are not residents of a municipality to vote if they own property within a given jurisdiction. Of course, by definition, this right is only extended to people who are not residents so as to avoid double-voting. For example, a resident of Barriere who owns property in Clearwater may vote in Barriere as a resident elector and in Clearwater as a non-resident property elector. However, a person who lives in Clearwater, and owns additional properties in Clearwater may only vote once in Clearwater as a resident elector. The property must be owned personally and not by a corporation, corporate voting was eliminated several years ago.

The nomination period begins on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 at 9:00 am and ends on Friday, October 14, 2011 at 4:00 pm. No candidate nominations can be filed except during the nomination period.

In order to run as a candidate, you must:

• be 18 or older on General Voting Day;
• be a Canadian citizen; and
• be a resident of British Columbia for at least 6 months before the election.

In addition, you must not have been otherwise disqualified, for example, by failing to file a campaign financing disclosure statement after the last election. Candidates in a civic election are not required to be residents of the community in which they are seeking public office. Municipal employees are required to take a leave of absence before being nominated for a position on District Council. Thompson Nicola Regional District employees must also take a leave of absence before being nominated as a candidate for a District Council position.

An elector organization is an organization that endorses the election of a particular candidate and has its name on the ballot along with the candidate’s name. If the organization wants to have its name appear on the ballot with the candidate's name, the organization must have been in existence for 60 days and have had a membership of 50 electors of the local jurisdiction for that period. Elector organizations are bound by the same financial disclosure rules as candidates and their disclosure statements are available for inspection by the public at the local government office after general voting day.

Campaign organizers are individuals or organizations that mount an election campaign and accept campaign contributions, intend to accept campaign contributions, or incur expenses in support of an election campaign. The primary difference between an elector organization and “campaign organizer” is that the campaign organizer does not officially endorse candidates on the ballot, but nevertheless, mounts an election campaign or advertising campaign in support of a candidate(s) or an elector organization(s).

The purpose of campaign financing disclosure statements are to provide the public with more information as to who is financially supporting candidates, elector organizations and campaign organizers and how much is spent in running for elected office. Candidates, elector organizations and campaign organizers are required to prepare and file with the local government, public statements which outline the campaign contributions they received and election expenses they incurred.

The campaign financing disclosure statements must be filed 120 days after general voting day (March 19, 2012). The requirement to file a disclosure statement applies to all candidates and elector organizations, whether or not contributions were received orelection expenses were incurred.

Campaign organizers are also required to file campaign financing disclosure statements. For campaign organizers, the requirement to file is triggered once the organizer files with the Chief Election Officer the contact information for the organization and its appointed officers. This must be done once the organizer has incurred election expenses greater than $500, has received campaign contributions greater than $500, or sooner if the organizer so chooses.