Vote by Mail in the November 7, 2021 Municipal Elections

In the context of the pandemic, the Municipality of the Township of Potton will adopt a resolution allowing voting by mail.

For several years, the Municipality of the Township of Potton has been asking the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec and the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to make the entire population eligible to vote by mail.
Until now, the law allowed municipalities to grant voting by mail only to non-resident electors.
This practice, which the Municipality of the Township of Potton considered unfair, led to the adoption of a resolution by the Memphremagog Regional County Municipality (Memphremagog RCM) asking the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to allow voting by mail to all electors and qualified voters.
It is therefore not surprising that during the last elections, only 10% of the municipalities in Quebec, including 4 in the Memphremagog RCM (with the Municipality of the Township of Potton), used voting by mail.

Although the Municipality of the Township of Potton is disappointed that the Chief Electoral Officer of Québec did not extend the possibility of voting by mail to the entire population, it is pleased with the step forward.
Therefore, for the November 7, 2021 elections, the Municipal Council will adopt a resolution to allow the new provisions proposed by the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec:

• Additional advance polling dates will be added
• Voters will be able to mark their ballots with their own black or blue pen or lead pencil
• Voting by mail will be allowed to electors who are 70 years of age or older on November 7th, as well as to those who must remain in home isolation due to public health directives.  However, all of these individuals will need to apply.

The Municipality of the Township of Potton is working to plan for a safe and fair election for all. Citizens are invited to express their views on the issue by writing to:
consultations@potton.ca