Nova Scotia municipal election voting rules may be eased

The provincial government wants to make it easier for Nova Scotians to vote in municipal and school board elections.

It is proposing changes to the Municipal Elections Act, including quicker residency qualifications, allowing people to vote without identification, and new rules for disclosing donations.

Under current rules, a person has to be a resident of a community for at least three months to vote.

"We don't think that's fair," Municipal Affairs Minister Zach Churchill said Friday.

The new rule would allow anyone who's been in the province for at least six months to vote in any community they move into, up to the first day of an advanced poll. That means a resident living only weeks in a new community would be allowed to cast a ballot.

"People that move within the province, we want them to be able to exercise their democratic right," Churchill said. "By moving the eligibility date to the advanced poll we believe we can accomplish that.

"So that if you move from Truro to Yarmouth, or from Halifax to Cape Breton, or vice versa, you will be able to participate in that election even if you've only been living there for a month or two."

Swearing an oath

Voters currently have to show identification if they want to cast a ballot, but if the changes to the law are adopted, they will be able to swear an oath instead.

On the financial front, only candidates who get political donations are currently expected to file financial reports. A change would force every candidate to do so, even if they raise nothing.

Those who like the feeling of putting their own ballots in the ballot box are going to like one last change. Instead of having to hand their ballot to a deputy returning officer to put in the box, individuals will be able to do it themselves.

The next municipal and school board elections will take place on Oct. 15, 2016.

In the 2012 vote, turnout for municipal elections ranged from a low of 27 per cent in the District of the Municipality of West Hants to a high of 83 per cent in the Municipality of the District of Guysborough.