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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Some would-be voters in the Western Arctic didn't get to cast a ballot in the Oct. 14 federal election because they failed to meet new identification requirements.

Liz Wyman, the Elections Canada returning officer in Western Arctic, said she is aware that happened.

However, she cannot say how many people were affected.

That's because Elections Canada had no requirement that statistics be kept on the number of people who failed to present proper identification.

Wyman said people working at polling stations are busy and often face line-ups of voters.

"It would have just added more time to the process and we wanted to make this as easy as possible for the elector," she said of not keeping track of those without proper identification.

There were 13,677 valid votes recorded - a big drop from the 16,132 in the 2006 federal election. However, this year's total is higher than the 13,478 valid votes in the 2004 election.

Under the new identification rules, option number one for a potential voter was to provide an original piece of identification issued by a government or government agency containing a photo, name and address, such as a driver's licence.

The second option was to show two original pieces of approved ID, both containing a person's name and address, such as a health card or hydro bill.

Finally, a would-be voter could swear an oath and be vouched for by another person on the list of electors at the same polling division, provided that other person had proper identification.

If people could not be vouched for, said Wyman, they were advised to go home and get proper identification.

She said the new process for checking IDs didn't seem to slow down the voting process, adding everyone is used to showing identification at airports and elsewhere.

"It's second nature to show IDs," she said. "It's part of life these days."

Wyman said she has heard no complaints of slow-moving lines at polling stations.

"I don't think there were any extra problems in this election compared to previous elections," she said.

Elections Canada sent information on the changes to identification requirements to every household before the election, Wyman noted. "I think people were well aware of them."