Here is how to navigate the day of the vote this year, in the context of a pandemic.
When to vote
Everywhere in Quebec, it will be possible to vote on November 7, between 9:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. In Montreal, for those who have not already voted at the advance poll, it will also be possible this year to go to a polling station this Saturday, provided they have in hand their reminder card from the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec. and an identity document, such as a driver’s license or health insurance card. Wearing a face cover is required, but not the vaccination passport.
Manual
Quadruple vote Montrealers will have to vote not only for the mayor of the metropolis, the mayor of their borough and city councilors, but also, in several sectors, for borough councilors.
Double vote In the vast majority of some 1,100 towns and villages in Quebec, citizens vote twice, either for the post of mayor and for a municipal councilor. An exception applies to residents of the district of Lennoxville, in Sherbrooke, and that of Greenfield Park, in Longueuil: residents must also vote for a borough councilor, which is not the case in other sectors of these two cities.
Prefect In most towns and villages also represented by a regional county municipality (MRC), which therefore have elective prefect positions, voters will have to vote twice, first to choose their elected municipal officials, then to elect a prefect. .
In the unorganized territories of Quebec which do not have a municipal council, but which shelter a population, the voters will have to designate a prefect to represent them in their MRC.
Vote in two cities
It is possible to vote in two cities if you have owned a business or a chalet for at least one year located in a municipality other than the one where your main residence is located.
The small polling station
From one year to the next, the participation rate in municipal elections hovers around 50%. It is even lower in Montreal, where it reached 42% in 2017. In order to build the next generation of voters, tens of thousands of elementary and secondary school children can vote again this year – symbolically, of course – for the mayor of their municipality, as part of the Voters in Training program. The exercise is done this time online, in a “small virtual polling station”. The results of the youth vote will be published online on November 8. Will children vote like their parents?