Yellowknife (July 19/04) - A little known fact -- now that the dust has cleared from last month's federal election -- is that when Elections Canada heads out to recruit voters, they don't just send out voter cards in the mail.

The homeless, bedridden and all those in the bush or in mining camps all need to be accounted for, too. For those who can't make it to their assigned polling stations on election day, they can obtain a special ballot which can be used up to six days before the election.

In this year's election, 347 people in the NWT used special ballots.

"Which is quite a big number," said Elections Canada worker Debbie Maracle.

Workers in mining camps and hospital patients are the most common users.

The homeless, or those in shelters and group homes, present a particular puzzle, said Lorraine Tremblay, returning officer for the Western Arctic.

"They don't have a residence as such, and the second problem is that they might not have ID," she said.

Elections Canada workers will visit shelters and get the administrator to list all their clients, who can then use the shelter as their civic address. If they have no ID, they can use someone already on the list to vouch for them.