Our Job

While election time keeps us very busy, you’ll find there is always something going on at Elections Nova Scotia before, during, and in between elections.

Before

An election can be called at just about any time, so we are in an ongoing state of preparation. This includes reviewing election procedures, updating and improving our many publications, maintaining a warehouse of election supplies, training Returning Officers and other officials, reviewing electoral district and polling division boundaries and polling station locations, running projects involving Returning Officers, and keeping the List of Electors up to date. Other duties include reviewing and producing training and information materials including election handbooks, brochures, forms, and materials. We are constantly working to improve the administration of elections.

During

Our core responsibility at Elections Nova Scotia is to ensure all elections, by-elections, and plebiscites follow the Elections Act and other relevant laws. We also keep you informed about what is happening during an election by issuing statements to the media and taking phone calls, and, at the end of the election, we compile and report the results.

Then we maintain a record of the election for research and historical reference, so if there is anything you want to know about an election in Nova Scotia’s past, you’ll find it here.

After and In Between

Financial: Political parties, candidates, and their supporters must follow certain rules when it comes to money. One of our responsibilities is to review the annual financial statements of political contributions received from recognized parties, their electoral district associations, and candidates. We also receive statements on the issuing of official tax receipts for political contributions and administer a program for these receipts.

Geography: No matter where you live in Nova Scotia, you are within one of the province’s 51 “electoral districts” – sometimes called a constituency or riding. These electoral districts are broken down further into “polling divisions.” Each division contains about 250-450 electors, just like you. People’s circumstances change; many turn 18 or pass away, others move into, within, and out of our province, and others become Canadian citizens, so keeping track of the electors in a district is an important job for us. We produce maps, maintain databases, analyze results, and do our best to keep the List of Electors up to date – always at the ready for an upcoming election.

We are responsible for:

working with and training the Returning Officers, Election Clerks, and Revision Assistants; using various computer technologies and data resources to maintain and update the Electoral Civic Address Registry Database, Electoral District Maps, and Polling Division Maps
working with electors and various sources to maintain a current List of Electors
designing, developing, and producing all digital and hard copy district and polling division maps
building and maintaining an Electoral Map Library to handle map requests from various agencies and the general public
maintaining the online Civic Address Lookup tool and digital maps for downloading