SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Voting in the federal election isn't as easy as showing up to the polls and putting an 'X' next to your chosen candidate. First, you have to prove who you are and where you live, a task that not all Canadians 18 and older can easily accomplish.

Lydia Bardak, executive director of the John Howard Society, is encouraging people who frequent the Dene Ko Day Shelter to vote by displaying election information and writing letters of attestation. With such a letter, people are able to vote without presenting ID or a piece of mail. - Nicole Veerman/NNSL photo

For instance, it's pretty difficult to prove where you live when you don't have a home.

"The reality is there's a lot of people out on the streets that don't have valid identification, don't have an address other than general delivery, don't have a bank account and all those usual things that we would have," said Lydia Bardak, executive director of the NWT John Howard Society.

In light of this issue, Elections Canada has options that don't require photo ID or a piece of mail.

The person can have a friend or family member, who has appropriate ID, vouch for them.

Or if a person frequents a soup kitchen or shelter, the administrator of the shelter can write the person a letter of attestation, confirming who they are.

"What happens is those people that regularly see a homeless person coming in, they are able to provide a letter of attestation from the shelter, so that (the homeless person) can be linked to an address," said Diane Benson, spokesperson for Elections Canada. "So they would be put in the polling division of a soup kitchen or shelter or a place that they regularly went."

Bardak is an administrator for the Dene Ko Day Shelter, so she has been informing the people who frequent the centre of their ability to vote without ID and encouraging them to get to the polls on May 2.

"I've been going around and asking people if they're going to be voting and a few people have asked me where and when, so that's encouraging," she said.

Not everyone is that receptive, though.

"A lot of people just shrug it off, saying they're feeling discouraged, saying, 'Nobody's going to listen to me anyway,'" she said.

Given the low response she's had so far, Bardak said she'd be happy to get 10 people from the shelter to vote.

Criminal lawyer Michael Gannon said it's important they do.

"Many of them don't feel they have a voice. It would be encouraging to see that change because they're the ones that are affected by what's going on in the court system, what's going on in the social services system, what's going on just within the public," he said.

At the day shelter, there are newspapers and the radio is often on so people can get informed, said Bardak, who has also had people asking her who's running and what they stand for.

But being informed might not be enough, the people also need support, said Gannon.

"Some people have never actually voted, so they don't actually know how to do it. It's completely foreign territory to them.

"So it requires more than just the individual. It requires a support system that's going to allow those individuals to feel they have a voice," he said.

On election day, Bardak said she will be that support to the people in the day shelter.

"I'm happy to walk back and forth and help them get there," she said.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.