Voting day in provincial and federal prisons

Inmates in provincial and federal prisons are going to the polls today.

Since 2002, inmates have been eligible to vote as long as they’re over 18 and Canadian citizens.

Elections Canada stipulates that the voting takes place 10 days before Election Day.

The process is different than it is for other Canadians voting in their own electoral districts.

Even if an inmate has been in jail for years, they don’t vote for the candidates in the riding where the institution is.

They vote using the address where they last lived before their imprisonment. Or they use the address of a spouse of close relative. The final option is to vote for the candidates in the riding where they were arrested or went to trial.

Because of the number of ridings that would be represented inside any given institution, prison officials have a list of candidates for each riding and voters write the name of their choice on a ballot, which is then put into a secure envelope and sent off to Ottawa to be counted.

“The ballots of incarcerated electors are counted at the same time as those of Canadian residents temporarily absent from their electoral districts, Canadian citizens residing outside Canada and Canadian Forces electors, provided they have been received at Elections Canada in Ottawa no later than 6:00 p.m., Eastern Time, on polling day,” Elections Canada says on its website.

I’m guessing that the Conservatives won’t be winning many votes among prison populations given the laws they passed on things like mandatory minimums and eliminating 2-1 pre-trial credit.