Who Can Vote

Who is eligible to vote in a municipal elections? 

Anyone can vote in a municipal election who, on the day of the election, is:

  • 18 years of age or older
  • a Canadian citizen; and
  • You qualifity to vote in the Village of Merrickville-Wolford

There are 3 ways that you can qualify to vote in a municipality:

  • As a resident elector if you live in the municipality. You may own,
    rent, live in shared accommodation where you do not pay rent or live
    in the municipality but do not have a fixed address. Being a resident
    elector is the most common type of eligibility.
  • As a non-resident elector if you own or rent property in a
    municipality, but it’s not the one where you live. You can only be a
    resident elector in 1 municipality. However, you can be a non-resident
    elector in any other municipality (or municipalities) where you own or
    rent property.
  • As the spouse of a non-resident elector if your spouse owns or
    rents property in the municipality or municipalities other than the one
    where you live.
    Neither you nor your spouse qualify as a non-resident elector if you do not personally own or rent the property in the municipality. For example, if the property is owned by your business or your cottage is owned by a trust, you would not qualify as a non-resident elector.

Students

There is a special rule for students who may be living away from home while they attend school. If you are a student and consider your "home" to be the place where you live when you are not attending school (i.e. you plan on returning there), then you are eligible to vote in both your “home” municipality and in the municipality where you currently live while attending school.

Voting in more than 1 Municipality

If you qualify to vote in more than one municipality, you can vote in all of those municipal elections. For example, if you qualify as a resident elector in 1 municipality, and a non-resident elector in 3 other municipalities, you can vote in all 4 of those municipal elections.

Wards
The Village of Merrickville-Wolford is comprised of 2 Wards. You must vote in the Ward where you live.
If you are also the owner or tenant of a property in another ward, you are not permitted to vote in that Ward instead.

Make sure that you are on the voters’ list for that qualifying address.

Your name must be on the voters’ list in order for you to cast a ballot.

Who is not eligible to vote in a municipal elections? 

  • A person who is serving a sentence of imprisonment in a penal or correctional institution.
  • A corporation.
  • A person acting as executor or trustee or in any other representative capacity, except as a voting proxy in accordance with section 44 of the Municipal Elections Act.
  • A person who was convicted of the corrupt practice described in subsection 90(3) of the Municipal Elections Act(External link), if voting day in the current election is less than five years after voting day in the election in respect of which he or she was convicted.

Who is eligible to vote in a school board election?

An individual is elgible to vote in a school board election if they are:

  • a Canadian citizen;
  • at least 18 years old on Voting Day;
  • a resident of the Village of Merrickville-Wolford or the owner or tenant of residential land in the Village of Merrickville-Wolford or are the spouse of such owner or tenant

If you are eligible to vote in a municipality because you are the owner or tenant (or spouse of an owner or tenant) of commercial property, you are not eligible to vote for a school trustee.

To determine which school board an individual is eligible to vote for, the following criteria is used:

  • English language public school board - This is the default - unless you are qualified to vote for a separate or French board, you will vote for the English public school board in your area.
  • English language separate school board - You must be Roman Catholic and you must be a separate school board supporter or the spouse of a separate school board supporter. If your spouse is a Roman Catholic and you are not, you are not eligible.
  • French language public school board - You must be a French language rights holder and you must be a supporter (or the spouse of a supporter) of the French language public school board.
  • French language separate school board - You must be a Roman Catholic and a French language rights holder and you must be a supporter (or the spouse of a supporter) of the French separate school board. If your spouse is a Roman Catholic and you are not, you are not eligible.

"Supporter" refers to which school board the school portion of your property taxes goes to. The default is the public school system. In order to be a separate school supporter you must direct your taxes to the separate school system. Contact the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (External link) (1-866-296-6722) for more information.

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