Voting is a meaningful and easy way to be active in your community, with municipal government directly impacting the day-to-day lives of over 500,000 residents who call the Halifax Regional Municipality home.
It’s important to understand who can (and who can’t) vote in municipal elections.
Municipal elections
Residents who meet all the following conditions qualify to vote in municipal elections:
- Residency: You have been a resident in Nova Scotia for six (6) months immediately before the first advanced polling day and you have been a resident of the Halifax Regional Municipality since immediately before the first advanced polling day.
- Age: You are 18 years of age or older on the first advanced polling day.
- Citizenship: You are a Canadian citizen on the first advanced polling day.
In addition to meeting residency, age and citizenship requirements, residents must not otherwise be disqualified to vote in municipal and/or school board elections. You are considered a disqualified person for the purpose of the municipal election if you are:
- the municipal Returning Officer;
- a person serving a sentence in a penal or reform institution; and/or
- a person who has been convicted of bribery under the Municipal Elections Act [PDF] in Nova Scotia, in the six (6) years before the ordinary polling day.
Student voters
Students attending one of the municipality's eight post-secondary institutions can vote in Halifax, subject to the same basic voting requirements as all other residents.
Students who meet basic voting eligibility are considered a resident of either where their family home is located or where they are attending school, but not both. All residents are only able to vote in one municipal election in Nova Scotia.
Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP) elections
To vote in school board elections, residents must meet the basic voter qualifications (outlined above) and be an “Entitled Parent” or “Entitled Person” who meets one of the following conditions:
- your first language learned and still understood is French;
- you received your primary school instruction in Canada, in a French-first-language program; and/or
- any of your children have received, or are receiving, primary or secondary-school instruction in Canada in a French-first-language program (note that a French immersion program is not a French-first-language program).