BILL NO. 84

(as introduced)

3rd Session, 63rd General Assembly
Nova Scotia
70 Elizabeth II, 2021

 

Private Member's Bill

 

Municipal Elections Act
(amended)

 

Claudia Chender
Dartmouth South

First Reading: April 1, 2021

(Explanatory Note)

Second Reading:

Third Reading:

Explanatory Note

This Bill

(a) permits persons serving a sentence in a penal or reform institution to be registered on the list of electors and vote in a municipal election; and

(b) requires a polling station within every correctional facility.

An Act to Amend Chapter 300
of the Revised Statutes, 1989,
the Municipal Elections Act,
Respecting Persons Serving a Sentence

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Clause 15(c) of Chapter 300 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Municipal Elections Act, is repealed.

2 Chapter 300 is further amended by adding immediately after Section 60 the following Section:

60A (1) In this Section,

(a) "Chief Electoral Officer" means the Chief Electoral Officer as defined in the Elections Act;

(b) "correctional facility" means a correctional facility as defined in the Correctional Services Act or a penitentiary as defined in the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (Canada).

(2) Notwithstanding Section 60, the returning officer shall establish a polling station within every correctional facility.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), Chief Electoral Officer may, on the request of the returning officer or the Municipal Elections Officer on behalf of all municipalities, establish a polling station or all the polling stations, as the case may be, required by subsection (2) and manage the election with respect to that polling station or those polling stations, respectively.

3 (1) Subsection 73(1) of Chapter 300, as amended by Chapter 26 of the Acts of 1994 and Chapter 68 of the Acts of 2011, is further amended by

(a) striking out "or" at the end of clause (c);

(b) striking out the period at the end of clause (e) and substituting "; or"; and

(c) adding immediately after clause (e) the following clause:

(f) a person serving a sentence in a correctional facility.

(2) Subsection 73(2) of Chapter 300 is amended by adding "clause (a), (b), (c) or (e) of" immediately after "to" in the first line.

(3) Section 73 of Chapter 300, as amended by Chapter 26 of the Acts of 1994 and Chapter 68 of the Acts of 2011, is further amended by adding immediately after subsection (2) the following subsection:

(2A) A transfer certificate issued pursuant to clause (f) of subsection (1) shall permit the elector to vote at a polling station within a correctional facility.

 

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