Election officers must give you a pencil with your ballot paper. You must use this pencil to mark your choice. In fact, Québec’s electoral legislation specifies that during the counting of the votes, if a ballot is marked with an object other than this pencil, it must be rejected.
This rule helps ensure the secrecy of the vote: since electors all use the same pencil, they cannot be identified by their ballot paper, nor can we know for whom a person voted.
For provincial elections, Élections Québec chose a type of pencil with good quality lead, because hundreds of people use it to mark their ballot during voting day. During municipal and school elections, returning officers select the type of pencil the electors will use.
Rumours and urban legends about using a pencil to vote
Some rumours and false information about elections are designed to undermine the confidence of electors in the electoral process. Sometimes, they are based on true elements that are exaggerated or distorted. This is not a new phenomenon, but with the Internet and social media, false or misleading information circulates even more easily and can be read or heard quickly by many people. Sometimes, well-meaning individuals or groups share this false information, thinking they’re helping those around them. Other times they deliberately seek to harm, discourage participation or mislead electors.
In many democratic countries, the organizations responsible for elections see rumours and urban legends spreading about the object electors use to mark their ballot paper, whether it’s a pencil, a pen or a marker. Québec is no exception.
Some people falsely claim that election officials can change the choice of electors by erasing their mark when it is made with a pencil. Others use this fear to suggest that electors use a pen or felt-tip marker, which would result in their ballot paper being rejected during the counting of the votes.
In Québec, for your vote to be valid, you must mark your ballot paper using the pencil that the election officers give you. This is not a preference of Élections Québec; it is a requirement set out in the electoral legislation. And since you put your own ballot paper in the ballot box, which is sealed and under surveillance at all times, no one can alter your mark.
During the counting of a ballot box, no one is left alone with the ballots. It is a security measure. That is why election officers always work in teams of two. Candidates may attend the counting of the votes or assign a representative for the polling station.
If you become aware of any questionable information about the electoral process or if you have a question about the electoral process in Québec, you can rely on Élections Québec as the official source of information.