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Election day is set for May 11 and will see Tantramar residents head to the polls for the first full municipal election since amalgamation in 2023.
While some councillors have already announced their intentions to run again, for those unfamiliar with the process who may want to put their names on the ballot, CHMA spoke with Kim Poffenroth, chief electoral officer for the province of New Brunswick.
And while Poffenroth certainly has lots of information for those looking to run, she also took the opportunity to stress why municipal elections are so important.
“It’s the kind of day-to-day decision making that really impacts people’s lives far more than they can appreciate.” she said. “It’s your snow clearing, it’s police, it’s fire, it’s recreation. Are we going to have a new rink? How often is the rink going to be open? What’s the playground going to look like?”
The first date people need to be aware of is March 23, when nominations open. Potential candidates then have until 2 pm on April 10 to submit or modify any paperwork submitted for their nomination, she said.
“ There’s absolutely no flexibility. If you submit a nomination paper at 2:01 p.m., it cannot be accepted by the returning officer.”
To be eligible for nomination, candidates must be 18 or older, Canadian citizens, and must have lived in the municipality in which they’re running for at least 6 months prior to May 11.
For municipalities like Tantramar, where there is more than one ward, an added wrinkle is that the candidate must be a resident of the ward in which they are running on the day they submit their nomination.
Of course, there are other restrictions on who can run as well, like federal employees and folks who work for the local government they are running for.
The next biggest barrier is securing the nomination itself, which requires at least 10 nominators from the ward the candidate is running for. And to avoid any issues after submitting, Poffenroth suggests candidates get more than 10, in case one of the nominators isn’t actually eligible to vote in the candidate’s ward.
“And sometimes people aren’t aware of where the dividing line is, particularly in wards. Or somebody happens to be, you know, grandma’s visiting their grandson and happened to be at the house, and we get everybody’s signature. It turns out she doesn’t actually live at that address.“
One opportunity candidates often miss in their applications is submitting contact info, or a link to a Facebook page or campaign website, which can then be included on the Elections NB website, said Poffenroth.
“ One of the complaints we often hear from the public is that ‘I don’t know who these people are, and I can’t find out information about them.’ So we provide candidates with that opportunity.”
And finally, though she wasn’t willing to speculate, Poffenroth acknowledged amalgamation has the potential to be a shaping factor in this election, as people have now had time to see how their new municipalities have functioned – though only time will tell.
“ I do see the possibility there where you’ve got sort of competing areas almost in a way, and everybody’s very interested in making sure that their former community is well represented.”
Potential candidates can find everything they need to apply at electionsnb.ca where they can download a candidate nomination kit.
