Tuesday deadline for SWLSB voter registration

Election officials will be on hand at Mother Teresa Junior High and Terry Fox Elementary tonight until 8 p.m., to help you get b ack on the official list of eligible Sir Wilfred Laurier School Board (SWLSB) voters.

If your name isn’t on the list by the Oct. 14 deadline, you won’t be able to cast a ballot when you show up to vote in the upcoming SWLSB election, Nov. 2.

Even if you’re on the SWLSB property tax roll, you might not be on the school board’s voters list, so it pays to check.

Many Laval residents don’t know that Quebec automatically shunts them to their local French school board voters list, once their children graduate from English school.

It’s easy to find out whether you’re on the SWLSB list by calling Elections Quebec toll-free at 1-888-353-2846 to find out which school board election you are registered to vote in.

The upcoming vote is important, because so few eligible voters bothered to cast their ballot during the past two SWLSB elections in 2003 (13.8%) and in 2007, when only one in six (16.6%) voted.

The proportion for French school boards was much worse. Quebec City has made it clear that another similarly abysmal turnout at the polls this year will undermine the democratic mandate of Quebec school boards.

If you have one or more children enrolled in the French-language or English-language school board serving your place of domicile, you will be registered in that school board.

If you don’t have children enrolled in the French-language or English-language school board serving your domicile, you will automatically be entered on the list of electors of the French-language school board where your domicile is located.

According to SWLSB returning officer Linda di Domenico, if you have been defaulted to the French school board list and want to be on the SWLSB list, you must apply in person before Oct. 14.

With next Tuesday’s deadline looming, di Domenico urged voters who discover that they aren’t on the list to visit SWLSB headquarters in person to apply to have their name transferred to the SWLSB roll.

“You can also apply during school hours at one of seven schools,” she said in an interview, “including Mother Teresa, which will remain open until 8 p.m., tonight.”

“On the deadline day, Oct. 14, the school board’s election office will remain open until 10 p.m.,” she told The Suburban.

You should bring two pieces of personal identification with you, at least one of which must indicate your home address and at least one of which must have a picture of you, such as a driver’s license or a passport, for example.

Mother Teresa Junior High

Terry Fox Elementary
900 Lacasse, Laval
7:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Joliette Elementary
Monseigneur Lafortune, St. Paul
7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Lake of Two Mountains High
2105 Guy, Two Mountains
7:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Sainte Agathe Academy
26 Napoléon, Ste. Agathe des Monts
7:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Laurentian Regional High
448, av d’Argenteuil, Lachute
7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

SWLSB Headquarters
235 Lesage, Rosemère
[450] 450 621-5600 x 1357 or 1322
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