Elector Qualifications

Section 17(2) & (3) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996

17(2)  A person is entitled to be an elector at an election held in a local municipality if on Voting Day, he or she:

• resides in the local municipality, or is the owner or tenant of land there, or is the spouse of such owner or tenant;
• is a Canadian citizen;
• is at least 18 years old; and
• is not prohibited from voting under subsection (3) or otherwise by law.

Persons Prohibited from Voting
Section 17(3) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996

The following persons are prohibited from voting:

• 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 (see voting proxies);
• A person who was convicted of the corrupt practice described in subsection 90(3), 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.

 Residence

 The following rules apply to determining a person's residence:

• a person may only have one residence at a time
• the place where a person's family resides is also his or her residence, unless he or she moves elsewhere with the intention of changing his or her permanent lodging place
• if a person has no other permanent lodging place, the place where he or she occupies a room or part of a room as a regular lodger or to which he or she habitually returns is his or her residence

Under subsection 2(1) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, as amended, a person's "residence" is the permanent lodging place to which, whenever absent, he or she intends to return. 

A "tenant' includes an occupant and a person in possession other than the owner.

A "time share contract" means a contract by which a person acquires the right to use a property for residential purposes:

• for a period of time each year, or other interval, and
• as part of a plan that provides for the use of the property to circulate among persons participating in the plan

A voter is only entitled to vote once in a municipality even though he or she may have more than one qualifying property address within the municipality.