BILL NO. 192

(as introduced)

2nd Session, 63rd General Assembly
Nova Scotia
68 Elizabeth II, 2019

 

Government Bill

 

Municipal Elections Act
(amended)

 

The Honourable Chuck Porter
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing

First Reading: October 10, 2019

(Explanatory Notes)

Second Reading: October 15, 2019

Third Reading: October 29, 2019 (LINK TO BILL AS PASSED)

Explanatory Notes

Clause 1 amends the Municipal Elections Act to provide that a volunteer member of a board or committee of a municipality is not required to take a leave of absence when becoming a candidate for councillor.

Clause 2 provides that a volunteer member of a board or committee of a municipality is not disqualified from being a councillor.

Clause 3 allows for nominations to be filed with the returning officer seven business days before nomination day rather than five.

Clause 4 increases the number of electors allowed for a polling station from 700 to 1,000.

Clause 5 allows a returning officer to extend voting hours when voting is interrupted by an emergency.

Clause 6 allows a returning officer to provide for a centralized polling place for an advance poll in addition to polling places within polling divisions.

An Act to Amend Chapter 300
of the Revised Statutes, 1989,
the Municipal Elections Act

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Section 17A of Chapter 300 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Municipal Elections Act, as enacted by Chapter 9 of the Acts of 2000, is amended by adding immediately after subsection (1) the following subsection:

(1A) For the purpose of subsection (1), volunteer service as a member of a board or committee of the municipality does not constitute accepting or holding office or employment in the service of a municipality.

2 Clause 18(1)(d) of Chapter 300, as amended by Chapter 26 of the Acts of 1994 and Chapter 9 of the Acts of 2000, is further amended by adding immediately after subclause (i) the following subclause:

(ia) as a volunteer member of a board or committee of the municipality,

3 Subsection 44(9) of Chapter 300, as amended by Chapter 9 of the Acts of 2003, is further amended by striking out "five" in the third line and substituting "seven".

4 Subsection 50B(1) of Chapter 300, as enacted by Chapter 47 of the Acts of 2015, is amended by striking out "seven hundred" in the third and fourth lines of clause (a) and substituting "one thousand".

5 Section 57 of Chapter 300 is amended by

(a) adding (1) immediately after the Section number; and

(b) adding immediately after subsection (1) the following subsection:

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where voting at a polling station on an ordinary polling day is interrupted by an emergency and the returning officer is satisfied that a substantial number of electors will not be able to vote if the voting hours at the polling station are not extended, the returning officer shall

(a) extend the voting hours at the polling station for the period necessary to give the electors a reasonable opportunity to vote, so long as the polling station does not close later than midnight on the same day; and

(b) give notice of the extended polling hours in such manner as the returning officer considers appropriate.

6 Section 114 of Chapter 300, as amended by Chapter 26 of the Acts of 1994, Chapter 9 of the Acts of 2003, Chapter 5 of the Acts of 2003 (Second Session), Chapter 46 of the Acts of 2007 and Chapter 68 of the Acts of 2011, is further amended by adding immediately after subsection (1) the following subsections:

(1A) Notwithstanding Section 60, a returning officer may provide polling stations for an advance poll established under subsection (1) at one or more of the following polling places:

(a) within the polling division;

(b) if the returning officer is unable to secure suitable premises for a polling station within the polling division, within an adjacent polling division; and

(c) within a centralized polling place.

(1B) Notwithstanding that the poll is not in the polling division in which an elector is ordinarily resident, the elector may vote at a polling place established under clause (1A)(c) if the elector is identified as one of the electors permitted to cast ballots at the advance poll identified in the notice required under subsection (7).

(1C) An elector may not vote at more than one polling station on advance polling day.

 

---

This page and its contents published by the Office of the Legislative Counsel, Nova Scotia House of Assembly, and © 2019 Crown in right of Nova Scotia. Created October 29, 2019. Send comments to legc.office@novascotia.ca.