Elections Nova Scotia working on program to pre-register teens for elections
Posted Oct 30, 2014 07:24:52 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – Elections Nova Scotia is working on a program to have 16- and 17-year-olds pre-registered for provincial elections so that they are on the voters’ list when they are old enough to vote.
The elections agency says in its annual report that registering young people has proven difficult and it is devising a program with school boards and the Education Department to reach students in schools.
A provision was made in 2011 that allows Elections Nova Scotia to gather information about 16- and 17-year-olds who would qualify as voters when they become 18.
The annual report also says measures are needed to strengthen ballot secrecy provisions after someone sent a photo of their marked ballot on social media during last year’s election.
Elections Nova Scotia said last week that the case was a breach of the province’s Elections Act, which says nobody in a polling station during voting hours can use a recording or communication device with the exception of election officers.
But the report says the director of public prosecutions concluded there wasn’t a reasonable prospect of conviction.
