Advance polls open in Halifax municipal elections

Advance polls for municipal and school board elections open Saturday across the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Residents can vote in person between noon and 8 p.m. on Saturday and again on Tuesday in advance polls. No I.D. or voter card is required to vote in person, however voters will have to swear an oath that they are eligible to vote.

Voting for school board members and the African Nova Scotian board representative, municipal councillors, mayor, and the french-language school board representative is all done at the same poll location.

All of the candidates are listed on the elections website.

To find your advance poll location, the city has a poll finder app on its website that will tell you the advance poll location and and the voting day location for you.

E-voting and telephone voting are also underway and will continue until Oct. 13. To vote online or over the phone, residents will need to use the pin number mailed to them by the municipal election office. Residents who did not receive a letter can’t use alternative voting but can still vote in person.

The final day to vote in person is election day on Oct. 15.

Councillors in districts 3, 4, 15, and 16 have all been acclaimed because they did not face any contenders for the position.

Three school board members have also been acclaimed in school board districts 3, 4, and 8. Two council districts make up one school board district, the school board districts where members are acclaimed correspond to districts 5, 6, 7, 9, 14, and 15 in the council districts.

Residents across the municipality vote for the mayoral candidates. Incumbent Mike Savage is running against business woman Lil MacPherson.

To be eligible to vote you must be a Canadian citizen and have lived in the province since April 8, 2016 and in Halifax since Oct. 7. You also need to be 18 years old as of Oct. 8.

WATCH: With less than 25 per cent of eligible voters casting a vote in the 2012 school board elections, a first-time candidate says the board needs to change how it works to connect with more students and parents. Global’s Marieke Walsh reports.

2:40 School board elections raise criticisms about how the board works