Voting push starts now for election workers in Yukon

Voting has already begun at Elections Canada three Yukon offices in Whitehorse, Watson Lake and Dawson City.

There will be more outreach activities than ever before in this federal election, predicts Sue Edelman, Yukon's returning officer.

Edelman won't say how many people have already voted by writing in the candidate of their choice on a special ballot, except that it's "quite a few."

The Fair Elections Act passed last year in Parliament has clauses that mean Elections Canada can no longer run ads pushing Canadians to vote, but officials will be out in the community.

Edelman says Elections Canada and City of Whitehorse staff are running a kiosk at the Canada Games Centre from Sept. 13 to Sept. 20 to sign up voters. The municipal election is Oct. 15 and the federal election four days later so they are cooperating on compiling a voters list.

There is no longer a general enumeration with officials going door to door to register voters.

Edelman says however, some targeted enumeration is being done.

"We go out into all the new subdivisions, and into the high turnover  areas like apartment buildings and we go door to door and we get the names of the people on those locations," she says.

Edelman adds Yukon College in Whitehorse is hosting elections staff Oct. 5 to Oct. 8. They're giving students a chance to vote on those days using special ballots.  Special ballots can be used for voting outside of a regular polling station.

Two main requirements to vote

Critics of the Fair Elections Act said the law, passed last year, makes it harder for people to register and vote.

Edelman says there are two main requirements.

"There's two things that electors need to prove, the first is who they are, and the second one is where they live so if who you are is something like a drivers license, or it's your health care card, preferably it's something that has your picture on it and your physical address on it," says Edelman.

"In the Yukon, outside of Whitehorse your physical address has to be proved with probably a tax form or an electrical bill or something that shows your physical location if all you have is a post office box," she says. 

Difficulties may arise for people who have recently moved and don't have accurate identification. Edelman says there are many options for meeting the requirements of the Fair Elections Act and the elections office can work with people to make sure every eligible voter gets to vote. 

"If you have passports, drivers license, bills, anything you've got, bring it along and we'll make sure that works," says Edelman.    

She says another option is that a qualified voter can swear an oath verifying another person who doesn't have the required documents. That could be especially useful in rural communities where people may be less likely to have picture ID and power bills.

Steep learning curve for candidates

As of Thursday morning, two candidates had filed their nomination papers for the Yukon riding. Perhaps it's no coincidence they are the two with experience, Conservative incumbent Ryan Leef and former MP Liberal Larry Bagnell.

The NDP's Melissa Atkinson has experienced supporters helping her.

But rookie politician and declared Libertarian candidate Cory Laidler is on his own. That includes finding 50 people to sign his nomination papers and preparing other documents.

"All in all, it's just been a lot more legwork I guess on my end because I don't have a campaign manager, I don't have a headquarters, I don't have a budget like the other parties have, so it's at home, doing my own research, doing my own reading, trying to get my paperwork done," he says.

"I've been on top of it I guess, but not as much as I would like to," says Laidler.

He still has more than a month to file his nomination papers.