Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Aug 28/00) - A voters' list, 2,140 names long, hangs in several public places around the community.

Long-time residents should be able to find their name on it, but newcomers to the capital will have to do some leg work in order to secure their right to vote in the Oct. 16 election.

"We're using a number of different sources to bring the voter's list up-to-date -- our key source is the list from the last election," said Chuck Gilhuly, of Nunavut Management, which has been contracted to prepare a new voters' list for Iqaluit.

A preliminary list was posted Aug. 14. The final list has to be posted 30 days prior to the opening of the polls.

"We've already received more than 60 calls and that includes things like people telling us someone has died or moved or that there's an error."

But when a community goes through a population explosion, other means have to be used to inform as many new residents as possible.

Town officials estimate the population has grown to between 5,500 and 6,000 from 4,100 at the last census. A new census is will be conducted next year.

"The government (of Nunavut) sent out a general e-mail to all of their staff and I think the federal government did the same. We've been getting a lot of e-mails from people wanting to add their name to the list," said Gilhuly.

"And we're lucky because a lot of our staff are long-time residents so they know everyone and are able to identify names and addresses."

Once the voters' list is believed to be complete, Gilhuly and his staff will distribute a flyer to remind voters of the Oct. 16 election.

"Aside from being on the list, a person could just show up on election day, register at the polls and vote," said Gilhuly.

There will be only two polling stations -- one in Cadet Hall and the other in Apex.

"From what I understand, one of the biggest difficulties with the last election was having five different polling stations in Iqaluit and people not knowing where they were supposed to go or not being able to find their station," said Rick Butler, Iqaluit's senior administrative officer.

"We'll be saving time and money by having one polling station here and one in Apex."

The election will cost $39,400, of which half will be paid in wages to persons running the polls.

"The proposal actually came in at quite a bit more than $39,400, but we've managed to lower it because a lot of our staff are involved in taking care of things -- the total is a pretty reasonable cost for running an election," said Butler.

Nominations open today, Aug. 28, for the positions of mayor and town councillors.

An official list of candidates will be posted on Sept. 11.

At present, the mayor works an hour a day, but councillors want to make it a half-time position with a $50,000 salary.

"We've been receiving quite a few calls from people inquiring about the nominations -- the election wheels are definitely turning," said Butler.