No matter the weather, elections in N.B. cannot be delayed

As a blizzard tore across Prince Edward Island earli‐ er this month, election offi‐ cials worried about a local byelection.

"When we woke up on Monday morning, it was very obvious that no one was going to be getting out to the polls," said P.E.I. chief elec‐ toral officer Tim Garrity.

"I mean, the plows were pulled off the roads. This was just not something that was going to happen."

He was able to push back the election by two days, since P.E.I. grants him the power to delay an election because of an "unforeseen emergency."

But in New Brunswick, there is no such power.

Since 2019, New Brunswick's chief electoral of‐ ficer has been asking the government to act on a list of 108 recommendations to modernize the province's election legislation. Kim Pof‐ fenroth said changes have been made to municipal elec‐ tion rules, but little else.

Pandemic pointed out problems

When the pandemic threat‐ ened the 2020 election, Pof‐ fenroth began asking for the ability to delay an election in emergency situations.

She addressed the issue again recently when she spoke to a legislative commit‐ tee. She pointed to delayed elections in the Northwest Territories from wildfires and to P.E.I.'s snowstorm delay.

"In both of those cases, the chief electoral officer had the authority to delay voting by one or two days so people could actually leave their homes," Poffenroth said.

"Those authorities do sim‐ ply not exist in our Elections Act."

Despite several memoran‐ dums to the executive coun‐ cil asking to introduce legisla‐ tion, "the progress is very lit‐ tle," Poffenroth said.

Two weeks after appear‐ ing before the committee, she said she hasn't heard anything from the Premier's Office about her request for changes in case New Brunswick faces its own un‐ foreseen emergencies on election days.

The Executive Council Of‐ fice has not responded to a request for comment on why Poffenroth's suggestions have not been accepted.

Poffenroth said she's going to hold off on pushing for changes now while she focuses on preparing for an election this year.

"After my lack of success in the fall of 2023, I said, 'I'm just going to put a pin in that.'"

But she remains con‐ cerned.

"It's one of those powers that you hope to never use because actually making the decision to use it is not taken lightly," she said in an inter‐ view.

"But if you need to make the decision, having the abil‐ ity to be able to do it is equal‐ ly important."

Severe weather events increasing, says P.E.I. of‐ ficer

Over on the Island, Garrity said the decision to delay the byelection for Borden-Kinko‐ ra by two days was not taken lightly.

He made calls to highway maintenance officials and plow dispatchers, and took into account the closing of the Confederation Bridge and calls by the RCMP for cars to stay off the roads.

"The reality is we're seeing more and more of these weather events right across the country that are coming up," Garrity said.

"Any chief electoral officer in the country, I feel, should have the authority to be able to move the election," he said.

Election delays are not al‐ ways from weather. When Premier Blaine Higgs called an election in late 2020, he created confusion by telling reporters it could be delayed if the pandemic worsened, even though the province had no rules to allow this.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the chief electoral officer made changes to an election in 2021 by extending deadlines and cancelling inperson voting when staff quit in droves as COVID got worse.

That province is now being sued by losing candi‐ dates, who say Elections N.L. didn't have the authority to delay the vote.

Poffenroth wants 2 oth‐ er changes

Poffenroth also told the com‐ mittee that privacy legislation is needed to protect lists of voters that are given out to MLAs and parties, because no regulations currently ex‐ ist.

These lists include names and addresses of voters.

"Given the ease in which data can be manipulated in today's day and age, it's not like 60 years ago, when peo‐ ple got a paper list," she said.

She said her office is look‐ ing into this practice and will release a report with recom‐ mendations.

Additionally, she cannot investigate campaign finance or election violations, some‐ thing other jurisdictions, in‐ cluding Alberta can do, she said. Currently, Elections N.B. has no authority to ask cam‐ paigns for more documenta‐ tion to prove finance viola‐ tions have been committed.

"We can ask, and they can say no," she said.

If her office gets com‐ plaints, outside of a full in‐ quiry, Poffenroth can only di‐ rect them to local police, she said.

"The files we have are a good basis for [police] to be‐ gin their investigation, but the actual expertise on this legislation is within this of‐ fice," Poffenroth said. Her of‐ fice often has to spend con‐ siderable time to "educate" police on specific election rules, she said.

Changes are 'sensible and urgent,' opposition says

Poffenroth's remarks were in response to questions from Green Party Leader David Coon, who asked for an up‐ date on the progress of elec‐ toral reform.

Coon told the committee her suggestions were "emi‐ nently sensible, and in some cases, fairly urgent."

In an interview, Coon said the province has legislation governing elections, yet Pof‐ fenroth "has no powers of in‐ vestigation" to actually en‐ force them.

He cited an example from the last provincial election, when his party reported what he said were violations at polling stations in Sackvil‐ le.

When his party was told by Elections N.B. that it had no investigative powers, the Sackville concern was "just left unaddressed."

Liberal committee mem‐ ber Keith Chiasson also agreed that Poffenroth's sug‐ gestions should be imple‐ mented, including her call for the power to delay an elec‐ tion if necessary.

"If she's flagged those is‐ sues within the legislation, and she thinks that govern‐ ment needs to kind of tweak the law that's in place now, then I think, all power to her," Chiasson said in an in‐ terview.

"I think with the weather being so unpredictable these days, I think it's something we're going to see more and more," he said.