Election Officials Overview
How are election officials appointed?
The MEO and Deputy MEO are appointed by council resolution. For the November 7, 2022 general election MEO and Deputy MEO should be appointed by Monday, May 9th, 2022. The Chief Administrative Officer can be appointed as the MEO and municipalities can share MEOs.
The MEO will appoint the Returning Officer (RO) in writing. The MEO can appoint the RO when it is appropriate for the municipality. The months before the election will be a very busy time for an MEO, so in most cases, the RO would be appointed one to two months before the election or by-election.
The Returning Officer will appoint the other election officials required to run the election. These election officials must be appointed by October 24, 2022.
Who is eligible to be an election official?
The eligibility requirement for all election officials (except the Municipal Electoral Officer) is that they must be a resident of Prince Edward Island.
Qualifications of election officials (Municipal Election Regulations section 18)
No individual shall be appointed as a returning officer, election clerk, enumeration officer, deputy returning officer, poll clerk, information officer or other election official unless the individual
- is a Canadian citizen or is legally entitled to work in Canada;
- is at least 18 years of age; and
- has been ordinarily resident in the province for at least the six-month period immediately preceding the appointment.
Election officials in Resort Municipality
(2) Notwithstanding subsection
- no individual shall be appointed as a returning officer, election clerk, enumeration officer, deputy returning officer, poll clerk or information officer in the Resort Municipality of Stanley Bridge, Hope River, Bayview, Cavendish and North Rustico unless the individual is qualified to be an elector in the Resort Municipality.
Prohibition - person closely connected to candidate
(3) A person closely connected to a candidate in an election is not eligible to be appointed, and shall not serve, as an election official in the municipality in which the candidate has been nominated.
Interested in being an election official?
Contact the municipality you live in to inquire or contact Municipal Affairs, in the event, another municipality is seeking municipal election officials for their election.
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