National Register of Electors

The creation of a national permanent register of electors was first proposed in the 1930s, but serious consideration for such a project was not established until the 1980s. In 1989, the Government of Canada appointed the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing, which in 1991 "recommended that provincial lists be used for federal purposes". It had six main conclusions: • a national register would be cost effective and feasible • the minimum election period could be reduced from 47 to 36 days • the best sources of information to update the register would be Revenue Canada, files from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and provincial and territorial driver's licence files and vital statistics files • there was support amongst provincial and territorial agencies • legislative changes to the Canada Elections Act and the Income Tax Act would be required • the registration of electors for the first electoral event to use the register would cost the same as previous enumeration methods, and subsequent elections would avoid costs of about $40 million To that point, the federal government, through Elections Canada, assumed responsibility for ensuring that every eligible elector was registered for each electoral event. For the 1988 federal general election, this required about 110,000 enumerators, who would canvass door-to-door so the cost and effort to the individual was minimal. to be maintained by Elections Canada. In April 1997, Elections Canada conducted a final house-to-house enumeration throughout Canada to establish the preliminary National Register of Electors, which was used for the Canadian federal election that June. Bill C-63 also reduced the minimum length of election campaigns from 47 days to 36 days, as the time required for voter enumeration was significantly reduced. Maintenance of the register is specified in clause 44, and clause 45 specifies that "an electronic copy of the Register for each electoral district shall be sent to the MP for the constituency" by 15 October of each year The second problem she raised was inclusion of the date of birth in the voter lists sent to each candidate for all electoral districts in Canada, and also to all political parties. and this was included in the committee stage in the House of Commons. ==Data sharing==

The Canada Elections Act permits Elections Canada to synchronize the data in the National Register of Electors with information obtained from external parties. These include federal agencies and Crown corporations including the Canada Revenue Agency, Canada Post (via the National Change of Address service), and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. It also specifies that Elections Canada may obtain information from other jurisdictions, such as from provincial and territorial motor vehicle registrars, and provincial electoral agencies with permanent voters lists. Since 1999, Elections Canada has convened the Advisory Committee of Electoral Partners annually (known as the National Register of Electors Advisory Committee until 2008), usually in November in Ottawa, to discuss the permanent elector databases, data sharing arrangements, and other related topics. In July 1998, Elections Canada signed a one-year interim agreement with the Division of Driver and Vehicle Licensing in Manitoba to transfer driver licence records to Elections Canada every three months. In September 1998, the first batch of data on storage tape contained in a plastic cartridge was sent to Elections Canada; it had information about 675,000 licensed drivers in Manitoba. A report about the investigation stated that "the tape had been deposited inadvertently into Elections Canada's non-recyclable waste"; before the investigation, there had been concern that the tape and its data had been stolen. It resulted in separate investigations by Privacy Commissioner of Canada George Radwanski, the Office of the Manitoba Ombudsman, and an audit commissioned by Elections Canada conducted by a private security firm. The interim agreement lapsed without renewal. As a result of this incident, Elections Canada changed its practice so that "upon receipt...these tapes are now sent directly to the secured computer room". Each province's election legislation specifies how its provincial register of electors is created and maintained, the information it may release for external use (such as integration into the National Register of Electors), and the information it may receive from external parties, such as the National Register of Electors, provincial driver's licence records, and provincial vital statistics records. Section 55 of the Canada Elections Act permits the chief electoral officer of Elections Canada "to enter into agreements with provincial election authorities to share information contained in the National Register with those provincial authorities". A clause in section 56 ensures that data shared in this manner may be used by the provincial or territorial agency, and "that it is not an offence to knowingly use personal information obtained from the Register in accordance with any conditions in an agreement entered into with the Chief Electoral Officer pursuant to section 55". ==Voter registration==

To register with the National Register of Electors, individuals who will be at least 18 years old at the next election must complete a form certifying Canadian citizenship and providing proof of identity and residential address. Registration will result in the assignment to the individual's entry in the National Register of Electors of a unique identifier that is randomly generated, That individual will then be eligible to cast a ballot in the electoral district in which the individual is normally resident. An elector may register or update their personal information between elections, or may request to be excluded from the National Register of Electors per section 44(3) of the Canada Elections Act. Bill C-31 introduced an amendment to the Act to ensure that tax filers consenting to their personal information being included in the National Register of Electors are Canadian citizens; before this change, it was possible for non-citizen taxpayers to consent, and thus be included in the National Register of Electors, despite not being an eligible elector. One element to achieve and maintain a state of readiness for "electoral events whenever they may be called" In the run-up to each federal election, the National Register of Electors undergoes a comprehensive revision process, running for 28 days starting on the 33rd day before the election. Each federal electoral district is responsible for revising the list of electors in that district. Targeted revision involves sending pairs of "revising agents" to certain areas such as new residential developments, areas known for high population mobility, student residences, nursing homes and chronic care facilities. Electors may also be revised by using mail-in forms, by visiting the returning office in that electoral district, or by registering on polling day. ==Provincial and territorial voter lists==

Provincial agencies which maintain permanent lists of voters include those in British Columbia and Quebec. and to "update current voter registration information" This is possible as a result of changes to the British Columbia Election Act made on 20 May 2004. Elections BC shares data with Elections Canada every six months. This coordination ensures that federally registered electors are also registered provincially, and vice versa. after the 2005 provincial election in May 2005, the first to use the synchronized system, it was expected to be 93 per cent, to elect members of the 59th General Assembly of Nova Scotia. ==Voting==

For a Canadian federal general election, an individual may cast a ballot if the individual is a Canadian citizen, is at least 18 years old on the day of the election, and is registered to vote. The latter is satisfied by inclusion in the National Register of Electors, in which case Elections Canada will mail the elector a voter information card listing locations for advance polls and election day polls, or by independently registering for each election at an advance poll or election day poll. and for by-elections. Elections Canada prepares the preliminary elector lists for every polling station of each electoral district based on address information contained in the National Register of Electors. During the election period, returning officers for each electoral district use the lists to revise information for eligible electors. The lists are also used by candidates during their campaign in the election period, and by Elections Canada to "calculate election expense limits for political parties and candidates". The voter information card sent to each elector is meant to inform the elector of registration status, and to provide information about the location and date on which to cast a ballot. ==Audit==

A November 2005 report by the auditor general of Canada stated that the data contained in the National Register of Electors as of May 2004 had "coverage rates of more than 95 percent and currency rates of more than 81 percent", According to Elections Canada, from 1996 to 2008 the National Register of Electors allowed Elections Canada to avoid over $100 million in election-related expenditures. ==National Geographic Database==

Elections Canada and Statistics Canada used the National Register of Electors to generate the National Geographic Database (NGD), which contains roads and related attributes such as road "name, type, direction, and address ranges", Since 2001, data quality improvements focussing on road and address range currency has been the primary area of updates to the National Geographic Database. It is used by Elections Canada to generate electoral district maps, and by Statistics Canada for census activities. The maintenance costs from the 2000 federal election to 2005 was $16.6 million, requiring 34 full-time employees. The National Geographic Database is used for electoral purposes to be "able to identify in which electoral district and in which polling division the elector's residence is located". An Electoral Geography Database which contains "the boundaries of the 308 electoral districts and about 58,000 polling divisions" is combined with the NGD to "produce the various maps and other geographic products required to support electoral events". ==References==