Absentee voting: You can vote in a Manitoba election from anywhere in the world if you are eligible to be an absentee voter. if you expect to be outside Manitoba on voting days or inside Manitoba but at a location distant from a polling place. You can apply online or at your local Elections Manitoba office. See Elections Manitoba for more information.
Ballot: Manitobans will fill out paper ballots
Blackout period: The Election Financing Act forbids many types of government advertising, announcements and news conferences in a given number of days prior to an election, with some exceptions such as matters of public health and continuations of ongoing ad campaigns at agencies such as Crown corporations. The law is aimed at preventing the governing party from having a campaign advantage over other parties that do not have access to government resources.
In 2021, the Progressive Conservative government changed the law from 90 days to 60 days to allow for more exceptions, including continuations of ongoing ad campaigns by government departments.
Cabinet minister: In Canada a ministry is commonly referred to as Cabinet. It is the body of ministerial advisors that sets the government's policies and priorities.
Campaign Office: the actual building or portion of a building in which a candidate maintains his or her office for the purpose of running the election campaign
Candidate: In Manitoba, there are two types of candidates,
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Registered party candidate
Constituency associations of registered parties nominate most candidates but some parties do not have constituency associations. In either event this means affiliating yourself with a registered party. -
Independent candidate (not affiliated with a registered party)
Declaring your intent may consist of filing nomination papers or making a public announcement with a press release or by some other method such as accepting contributions for the purpose of contesting an election.
Constituent: someone who votes in a particular area
Constituency: an area for which someone is elected as the representative in a parliament or government
Early voting: see important dates section
Electoral division: Voters can now vote at any polling place in their electoral division on election day. Once there, voters will cast their ballot on a first come, first served basis.
How votes are counted:
Option 1: One piece of government-issued photo ID. e.g.,
Driver's license
Manitoba identification card
Passport
Treaty card
Option 2: Two documents that include your name. e.g.,
Manitoba Health card
Social Insurance card
Utility bill
Credit card
90 Day pre-election period begins: Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Restrictions on government advertising begins: Friday, August 4, 2023
Targeted registration: Election officials may visit homes to register voters from August 17 to 24.
Writ day (start of election period): Tuesday, September 5, 2023
Revision: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 to Thursday, September 14, 2023. Election officials may visit homes to register voters in this period.
Close of nominations: Monday, September 11, 2023, 1:00 p.m.
Advance voting: Saturday, September 23, 2023 to Saturday, September 30, 2023. Advance polling places are open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily, noon to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Last day to apply for absentee voting: Saturday, September 30, 2023
Last day to apply for homebound voting: Monday, October 2, 2023
Election day: Tuesday, October 3, 2023. Polls are open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Mandate: a mandate describes the authority given by an electorate to someone acting as its representative. Parliamentarians often have a political mandate, and therefore assume the task of representing the will of their voters.
MLA: An MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) is elected by the public in his/her constituency or electoral division, to serve as a representative in the Manitoba Legislative Assembly. They fulfill multiple roles and duties (more information here)
Political party: an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals
Polling station: a building where voting takes place during an election, typically one that normally has another function, such as a school.
Riding: a colloquial term for a constituency or electoral district
Scrutineer: the job of the scrutineer is to observe the conduct of the voting station to ensure it is operating in a free and fair manner.
Voting Machines/Counting machines: In this election, vote counting machines will be used to scan and record ballots and then provide a count at the end of the night. Voters will still mark a paper ballot. The ballot will then be fed into the vote counting machine which scans the ballot, records the selection, and saves an image of the ballot. The machines are not connected to the internet at any point. See more information here.
Voter eligibility:
a Canadian citizen;
18 years of age on or before election day;
a resident of Manitoba for at least 6 months before election day;
in the case of a byelection, a resident of the electoral division in which the byelection is being held.