Change in voting law affects students

Students opposed to tuition hikes and who hope to send Liberal MNAs packing in the coming Quebec election may have to rethink their strategy because of a change in the election law, a spokesperson for Quebec’s chief electoral officer says.

Student leaders said last week they will put the word out to opponents of the Quebec Liberal government’s plan to raise tuition by $1,778 that they should vote against Liberals in about a dozen Montreal-area seats won narrowly by them in 2008.

But Denis Dion, a spokesperson for the Directeur-général des élections du Québec, said a change to section three in chapter one of the Election Act that affects mainly students means voters can no longer change their place of residence during an election to vote in the riding where they are living temporarily.

Starting with the next Quebec election, those who are living temporarily in a riding – for example, near their school – will instead only be able to vote remotely in their home riding. They will have five days around the advance polling date to present themselves at a returning officer’s location and vote for a candidate in their home riding, he said. Voters must show proof of their permanent residence, which is often a driver’s licence, passport or tax return. The ballots will then be mailed and counted in the voters’ home ridings, Dion explained.

“Some students wanted to incite others to change their domicile often and use section three in the electoral law,” Dion said. “But that is no longer possible.”