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An advocacy group for people with disabilities is challenging Elections Canada\u2019s changes to the ballot in the upcoming byelection in Terrebonne, Que.<\/p>\n
Regroupement des activistes pour l\u2019inclusion au Qu\u00e9bec (RAPLIQ) says the decision to use ballots that require the voter to write in the candidate’s name themselves constitutes a violation of the fundamental principle of universal accessibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile this measure may address certain administrative constraints, it nonetheless results in concrete and worrying consequences for many citizens, particularly people with disabilities,\u201d wrote general manager Steven Laperri\u00e8re in a letter to Elections Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an interview with CBC, he said voting should be as easy as possible. But write-in ballots create a barrier to people with disabilities, including mobility, vision or literacy struggles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The byelection is planned for April 13 and has 48 candidates.<\/p>\n
It comes after a mail-in gaffe during last year\u2019s federal election led to that riding\u2019s results \u2014 the Liberals winning by a single vote \u2014 being nullified by the Supreme Court of Canada.<\/a><\/p>\n The Longest Ballot Committee, an electoral reform advocacy group<\/a>, has flooded Terrebonne with dozens of candidates. In the past, Elections Canada has printed ballots that were nearly a metre long \u2014 confounding voters and causing counting delays.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the head of Elections Canada said voters will have to write in<\/a> their pick in next month’s byelection in the off-island Montreal suburb due to the long list of protest candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chief Electoral Officer St\u00e9phane Perrault told a committee of MPs on Tuesday that the write-in option worked well the last time candidates associated with the group known as the Longest Ballot Committee flooded a riding with dozens of candidates.<\/p>\n “We had very few complaints about the use of that ballot, so we felt this was a better experience for the voters in general,” Perrault told the committee.<\/p>\n This week, the federal government proposed major changes to the Canada Elections Act<\/a> with Bill C-25, which would, among other things, make efforts to organize\u00a0long ballots<\/a> harder.<\/p>\n WATCH | Why some say write-in ballots are a bad idea: Byelection in Terrebonne, Que., will use write-in ballots. Some say it\u2019s a bad idea<\/p>\n Nearly 50 candidates are running in the upcoming federal byelection in Terrebonne, Que. Elections Canada says it\u2019s found a solution to avoid lengthy ballots at the polls, but one disability advocacy group says the move hurts accessibility.\u2018You should not need help to go and vote\u2019<\/p>\n In the Terrebonne byelection, every vote counts considering the riding was decided by the slimmest of margins during last year\u2019s federal election, and the result could help the Liberals secure a majority at the House of Commons.<\/p>\n Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste will again be facing off against the Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois\u2019s Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagn\u00e9 and more than 45 other candidates.<\/p>\n But just looking at those two top names, Laperri\u00e8re said they aren\u2019t easy to spell for anybody, let alone those who have certain disabilities.<\/p>\n Returning to traditional ballots is really the only solution aside from mail-in voting which, he said, didn\u2019t go so well the last time. Plus, he added, it takes away from the experience.<\/p>\n \u201cA mail-in ballot is never the same as going to the polling station and voting yourself,\u201d Laperri\u00e8re said, and even if Elections Canada has people on site to help, \u201cit should not be that way. You should not need help to go and vote. You should be able to go and vote yourself, without anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Voting with a stranger\u2019s assistance is not what people want, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Byelections are also being held in the Toronto ridings of University-Rosedale and Scarborough Southwest.<\/p>\n Write-in ballots the best option, Elections Canada says<\/p>\n In a statement, Elections Canada told CBC News they \u201ctake the concerns raised by RAPLIQ seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen deciding on how to proceed with the ballot in Terrebonne, these and other accessibility concerns were carefully considered.\u201d<\/p>\n The decision to use the adapted blank ballot, which will be used in the Terrebonne byelection, was made after reviewing recent past elections in other ridings with a \u201chigher-than-usual number of candidates over the past two years,\u201d Elections Canada spokesperson Matthew McKenna explained in an email.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774664532_551_default.jpg\")
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