How does Elections Canada keep your votes secure?

Kevin Maimann · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 24, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

After a grounds fig of Canadians voted successful beforehand polls during this national election, they privation to cognize their ballots are secure and counted fairly.

Elections Canada said an estimated 7.3 cardinal Canadians voted implicit the Easter agelong weekend, representing a 25 per cent summation over the 5.8 cardinal who voted successful beforehand polls successful the national predetermination successful September 2021.

With millions much gearing up to formed their votes connected Monday, here's a breakdown of the process Elections Canada uses to guarantee everything runs smoothly down the scenes.

Verifying voters

Elections Canada maintains the National Register of Electors, a imperishable database of eligible voters that it updates utilizing much than 40 sources of accusation to guarantee that lone radical who are entitled to ballot are connected the list of electors successful each riding.

At the polling station, each elector indispensable contiguous ID and impervious of address, and is past crossed disconnected the database aft voting.

Once the elector has marked their prime connected the ballot, an electoral serviceman volition analyse its serial fig to verify that the ballot is the aforesaid 1 that was handed to the voter. A "counterfoil" with a serial fig is past torn and removed from the ballot, earlier the elector puts the ballot successful the ballot box.

It is amerciable to instrumentality pictures of a marked ballot, successful bid to forestall radical from being intimidated oregon influenced to ballot a definite way. 

Special ballots

Canadians who are retired of the country, successful a jailhouse oregon institution, oregon petition to ballot earlier beforehand polls tin bash truthful done peculiar ballots, with impervious of ID.

They are fixed a peculiar ballot voting kit, which includes the ballot, a plain interior envelope and a larger outer envelope.

The elector writes the sanction of their chosen campaigner and puts the ballot successful the interior envelope. They past put that into the outer envelope, connected which they motion a declaration.

The elector tin past message that envelope to Elections Canada oregon driblet it into a ballot container astatine their section Elections Canada office.

After checking that the elector's sanction and territory codification lucifer those connected the exertion form, Elections Canada removes the interior envelope containing the ballot, truthful it cannot beryllium associated with the voter's identity.

Special ballots formed from extracurricular the voter's riding can be counted up to 14 days successful beforehand of predetermination day.

Counting the ballots 

The remainder of the votes, adjacent from advance polls, are not counted until predetermination night. Counting tin commencement 1 hr earlier polls close, but the results volition not be published until each polls close.

The ballots are counted by astatine slightest 2 paid predetermination officials in beforehand of radical who bash not enactment for Elections Canada — typically the candidates oregon their representatives — successful a country with closed doors.

"This means that the counting of votes is unfastened to scrutiny, ensuring that the process is followed arsenic acceptable retired by instrumentality and tin beryllium easy audited," the Elections Canada website states.

No 1 is allowed to permission the country until the number is done, and nary 1 other is allowed to enter.

The officials unfold each ballot and say the sanction marked retired large arsenic they tally the votes connected paper.

The workers full the fig of electors who voted, arsenic good arsenic the fig of spoiled and unused ballots, earlier sealing the ballots and delivering them to the returning officer, who is the authoritative successful complaint of managing the predetermination for that electoral district.

The returning serviceman records the ballot counts successful a machine programme that securely sends the accusation to Elections Canada's main office.

"It's a precise secure, closed system, and each portion of it is covered successful the [Canada Elections] Act," Elections Canada spokesperson James Hale told CBC News. "So there's thing near to chance."

Addressing irregularities 

Elections Canada reviews predetermination information and materials aft each predetermination to code immoderate imaginable irregularities, specified as cases of treble voting oregon voting by radical who are not entitled to bash so.

If thing antithetic is detected, officials authorized by Canada's main electoral serviceman tin unfastened "poll bags" with each applicable materials from the determination wherever the antithetic enactment is suspected. They enactment successful pairs "to supply further power and oversight," according to the Elections Canada website.

If Elections Canada identifies a imaginable voting irregularity, it refers the lawsuit to the Commissioner of Canada Elections for an autarkic review.

Anyone who thinks they whitethorn person witnessed an predetermination instrumentality being breached is besides entitled to make a ailment to the Commissioner of Canada Elections, which reviews each complaints and has the powerfulness to analyse and instrumentality enforcement action. The commissioner's bureau publishes yearly reports with statistics connected the cases referred to it.