Canada Elections Act (S.C. 2000, c. 9)

Marginal note:Secrecy of the vote

• 281.6 (1) Every person present at a polling station or at the counting of the votes shall maintain the secrecy of the vote.

• Marginal note:Attempting to obtain information about elector’s vote

  (2) Except as provided by this Act, no person shall, in a polling station, attempt to obtain any information as to the candidate for whom any elector is about to vote or has voted.

• Marginal note:Secrecy at the poll

  (3) Except as provided by this Act, no person shall

  • (a) on entering the polling station and before receiving a ballot or special ballot, openly declare for whom he or she intends to vote;

  • (b) while in the polling station, show his or her ballot or special ballot, when marked, so as to allow the name of the candidate for whom he or she has voted to be seen; or

  • (c) before leaving the polling station, openly declare for whom he or she has voted.

• Marginal note:Secrecy — marked ballot

  (4) No person who has seen a ballot or special ballot that has been marked by an elector shall disclose information as to how it was marked unless he or she is the elector who marked it or he or she has been authorized to make the disclosure by the elector who marked it.

• Marginal note:Secrecy — counting of the votes

  (5) No person shall, at the counting of the votes, attempt to obtain information or communicate information obtained at the counting as to the candidate for whom a vote is given in a particular ballot or special ballot.

Marginal note:Ballots

• 281.7 (1) No person shall

  • (a) request or apply for a ballot or special ballot in a name that is not his or her own;

  • (b) vote using a forged ballot or forged special ballot;

  • (c) request or apply for a ballot or special ballot to which he or she is not entitled;

  • (d) provide a ballot or special ballot to any person when not authorized under this Act to do so;

  • (e) have a ballot or special ballot in his or her possession when not authorized under this Act to do so;

  • (f) alter, deface or destroy a ballot, the initials of the election officer that are signed on a ballot or the number of the polling division or advance polling district that is marked on a ballot;

  • (g) put or cause to be put into a ballot box a ballot, special ballot or other paper otherwise than as provided by this Act or by instructions of the Chief Electoral Officer;

  • (h) take a ballot out of the polling station or the office of the returning officer otherwise than as provided by this Act or by instructions of the Chief Electoral Officer; or

  • (i) destroy, take, open or otherwise interfere with a ballot box or book or packet of ballots or special ballots otherwise than as provided by this Act or by instructions of the Chief Electoral Officer.

• Marginal note:Ballots — election officer

  (2) No election officer shall

  • (a) with the intent of causing the reception of a vote that should not have been cast or the non-reception of a vote that should have been cast, put his or her initials on the back of any paper purporting to be or capable of being used as a ballot at an election; or

  • (b) place on a ballot or special ballot any writing, number or mark with intent that the elector to whom the ballot or special ballot is to be given, or has been given, can be identified.

• Marginal note:Special ballots — unit election officer

  (3) No unit election officer shall place on a special ballot any writing, number or mark with intent that the elector to whom the special ballot is to be given, or has been given, can be identified.

Marginal note:Photograph, video or copy of marked ballot

• 281.8 (1) No person shall

  • (a) take a photograph or make a video recording of a ballot or special ballot that has been marked, at an election, by an elector;

  • (b) make a copy, in any manner, of any ballot or special ballot that has been marked, at an election, by an elector; or

  • (c) distribute or show, in any manner, to one or more persons, a photograph, video recording or copy of a ballot or special ballot that has been marked, at an election, by an elector.

• Marginal note:Exception — persons with visual impairment

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to any person with a visual impairment who takes a photograph or makes a video recording or copy of a ballot or special ballot that he or she has marked for the purpose of verifying the accuracy of their marking.

• Marginal note:Exception — legal proceedings

  (3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person who does anything referred to in that subsection for the purpose of a recount under Part 14 or for the purpose of any other legal proceeding.

Marginal note:False statement

281.9 No person shall

• (a) make a false statement in an application for registration and special ballot; or

• (b) make a false statement in a declaration signed by him or her before an election officer or unit election officer.

Marginal note:Person who assists elector — limit

• 282 (1) At an election, no person shall, as a friend, assist under section 155 or 243.01, more than one elector for the purpose of marking a ballot.

• Marginal note:Person who assists elector — secrecy

  (2) No person who assists an elector under section 155 or 243.01 shall, directly or indirectly, disclose the name of the candidate for whom the elector voted or that candidate’s political affiliation.

Marginal note:Vouching for more than one person

• 282.1 (1) No person shall vouch for more than one person at an election, except in the cases referred to in subsections 143(3.01), 161(2) and 169(2.01).

• Marginal note:Voucher not qualified as elector, etc.

  (2) No person shall vouch for another person if

  • (a) the person who vouches is not qualified as an elector;

  • (b) the person who vouches does not personally know the other person; or

  • (c) the person who vouches does not reside in a polling division assigned to the same polling station as the polling division in which the other person resides or, in the cases referred to in subsections 143(3.01), 161(2) and 169(2.01), in a polling division in the other person’s electoral district or an adjacent electoral district.

• Marginal note:Vouchee acting as voucher

  (3) No person who has been vouched for at an election shall vouch for another person at that election.

Marginal note:Influencing electors

282.2 No person shall, in a polling station or in any place where voting at an election is taking place, influence or attempt to influence electors to vote or refrain from voting, or to vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate or registered party, at the election.

Marginal note:Influencing electors — election officers and staff of returning officers

282.3 Subject to section 141, no election officer, unit election officer or member of the staff of a returning officer shall, while exercising their powers or performing their duties, influence or attempt to influence an elector to vote or refrain from voting, or to vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate or registered party, at an election.

Marginal note:Undue influence by foreigners

• 282.4 (1) No person or entity referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (e) shall, during an election period, unduly influence an elector to vote or refrain from voting, or to vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate or registered party, at the election:

  • (a) an individual who is not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and who does not reside in Canada;

  • (b) a corporation or entity incorporated, formed or otherwise organized outside Canada that does not carry on business in Canada or whose primary purpose in Canada during an election period is to influence electors during that period to vote or refrain from voting, or to vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate or registered party, at the election;

  • (c) a trade union that does not hold bargaining rights for employees in Canada;

  • (d) a foreign political party; or

  • (e) a foreign government or an agent or mandatary of a foreign government.

• Marginal note:Meaning of unduly influencing

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person or entity unduly influences an elector to vote or refrain from voting, or to vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate or registered party, at an election if

  • (a) they knowingly incur any expense to directly promote or oppose a candidate in that election, a registered party that has endorsed a candidate in that election or the leader of such a registered party;

  • (b) one of the things done by them to influence the elector is an offence under an Act of Parliament or a regulation made under any such Act, or under an Act of the legislature of a province or a regulation made under any such Act.

• Marginal note:Exceptions

  (3) For greater certainty, subsection (1) does not apply if the only thing done by the person or entity to influence the elector to vote or refrain from voting, or to vote or refrain from voting for the particular candidate or registered party, consists of

  • (a) an expression of their opinion about the outcome or desired outcome of the election;

  • (b) a statement by them that encourages the elector to vote or refrain from voting for any candidate or registered party in the election; or

  • (c) the transmission to the public through broadcasting, or through electronic or print media, of an editorial, a debate, a speech, an interview, a column, a letter, a commentary or news, regardless of the expense incurred in doing so, if no contravention of subsection 330(1) or (2) is involved in the transmission.

• Marginal note:Collusion

  (4) No person or entity shall act in collusion with a person or entity to whom subsection (1) applies for the purpose of contravening that subsection.

• Marginal note:Selling advertising space

  (5) No person or entity shall sell any advertising space to a person or entity to whom subsection (1) applies for the purpose of enabling that person or entity to transmit an election advertising message or to cause an election advertising message to be transmitted.

Marginal note:Interfering with marking of ballot

282.5 No person shall interfere with, or attempt to interfere with, an elector who is marking a ballot or special ballot.