Herb Mathisen
Northern News Services
Published Monday, Wednesday, June 25, 2008

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Among the recommendations in a new report released by Elections NWT is decreasing the residency requirements for eligible voters and candidates from one year to three months.

Saundra Arberry, chief electoral officer of Elections NWT, recently filed her report on the 2007 territorial election, and it includes 25 recommendations to improve the process.

Chief among them is reducing the residency requirements for eligible voters.

"It just seemed to be in line with other services that residents of the NWT are eligible for," said Arberry. "If you are eligible for health care after three months, I don't know why you couldn't be eligible to vote."

Arberry said she did take the issue of transient, or short-term, workers into consideration.

"You have to be a resident of the Northwest Territories - resident meaning you have to maintain a house or residence within the NWT," she said.

The term of the chief electoral officer should also be extended from four to seven years, said Arberry's report.

"The way the act sits now, a current chief electoral officer with a four-year term would only sit through one election," she said.

"(The four-year) term does not allow a chief electoral officer to administer more than one general election and thus does not provide for continuity of experience in office," the report states.

Extending the term to seven years would allow the officer to acquire historical perspective and personal experience with the process, she said.

"That's in line with jurisdictions across Canada," said Arberry, adding that most officers' terms run through a minimum of two elections.

Arberry said it was not odd at all to seek an extension to her own position, adding that all the report does is recommend changes to MLAs, who have the power to approve or deny them in committee.

"The MLAs will make a final decision on that," said Arberry. "I've made a recommendation. It may or may not go forward."

The report also recommends the chief electoral officer be allowed to vote in an election, and that the candidate nomination process should be simpler.

Instead of having to pay a $200 deposit and hand in a form containing the signatures of 15 nominees and witnesses, the report recommends an oath whereby people declare themselves candidates and show they meet requirements.

"Democracy is for everyone and there is little risk that this abuse of the electoral process will occur," the report states.

The report also suggests reducing the minimum allowed distance of campaign materials from a polling station to 25 metres from 100 metres.

"The reason for that is because the act has to work for all the communities in the Northwest Territories, not just in Yellowknife," she said.

"We found, in this last election, that 100 metres was really unsuitable for some of the communities. It just did not work. We recommended we decrease that."

Campaign materials must also be visibly signed by a sponsor. The report cited abuses, where sponsors signatures had been either too small, or hidden on the back of the sign.

Returning officers should be given the power to enforce the rule by removing signs if there is no visible signature, the report recommends.

The recommendations will be discussed for approval by the legislative assembly.