Québec, December 7, 2008 – Mr. Marcel Blanchet, Chief Electoral Officer, invites more than 5 ½ million electors to exercise their right to vote tomorrow, election day. From 9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., 21,315 polling stations will be open and more than one hundred thousand election officers will be on hand to administer the election.  A total of 651 candidates are hoping to win the favour of the electorate.

"Participating in a general election allows us to choose our representatives in the National Assembly while exercising a precious right, that of voting, " emphasized Mr. Blanchet. "That is why, among other reasons, it is important to head out to the polls on Monday," he continued.  The Chief Electoral Officer wishes to point out that the efforts made over the last month to hire election officers have borne fruit and that everything is now in place to welcome electors all across Québec. 

Welcoming electors and exercise of the right to vote

Electors can use their reminder card received at their domicile to find out where their polling station is located. They can also consult the website of the Chief Electoral Officer at the following address: www.monvote.qc.ca or contact our Information Centre at the following telephone number: 1 888 ÉLECTION (1 888 353-2846). Incidentally, employers must make sure that employees benefit from four consecutive hours to exercise their right to vote.  In addition, the Election Act stipulates that educational institutions are required to give time off to students who are electors. Québec’s school boards will also have to give all students attending their schools the day off for the election.

To exercise their right to vote, electors must establish their identity after having stated their name and address to the deputy returning officer. For this purpose, they can show any one of the following documents: their health insurance card, driver’s licence, Canadian passport, Certificate of Indian Status or Canadian Forces Identification Card. This formality will make it possible to confirm the identity of electors.

Disclosure of the results

Electors and media representatives will be able to obtain the results of tomorrow’s election by consulting, beginning at 8:00 p.m., the website of the Chief Electoral Officer at the following address: www.monvote.qc.ca. Once on the home page, simply click on the "Preliminary results” icon.  The various pages will be updated regularly up until the end of the counting of the votes.

Moreover, media representatives will be able to obtain a glimpse of the turnout rates recorded at 11:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.  These approximate rates should be known shortly after having been ascertained in the 125 electoral divisions and will be accessible from the home page of our website.

A few statistics

The compilation of the lists of electors after the revision reveals that the final number of electors registered for tomorrow’s election is 5,738,811.  Of that number, 5,474 are electors outside Québec and 2,869 are inmates.  More than 106,928 changes were made to the list of electors during the revision and special revision, namely 50,841 new registrations, 49,613 strikings and 6,474 corrections.

The final number of electors who voted in the advance poll is 674,569.  This figure includes those electors who voted at their domicile, in a health care institution or in a residential facility, as well as at the office of the returning officer, resulting in a final turnout rate of 11.78% for advance polling.

For more information on the December 8, 2008 general election, feel free to consult the website of the Chief Electoral Officer at the following address: www.monvote.qc.ca .

 

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