If you are thinking of running in the upcoming municipal election in New Brunswick, time is running out.
“You need to get a nomination paper completed and submitted to the local returning officer before 2 p.m. on April 10th. The nomination kits can be downloaded from the Elections New Brunswick website. On that paper, the instructions are quite clear, but you need to fill in information about yourself, the contest you want to compete in, and most importantly, you need at least 10 nominators who are eligible to vote in the contest in which you are running,” Kim Poffenroth, Elections NB Chief Electoral Officer, explained.
Those who want to run for local government must be 18 years of age and a Canadian citizen. They must also be living in the municipality for at least six months where they want to run as a candidate. If they are running as a Ward councillor, they must be living in that ward on the day they file nomination papers.
Poffenroth added that it is not unusual for New Brunswickers to wait until the last minute to file, especially in municipal elections. “It’s a little less common in provincial elections. I think it’s because people are waiting to see who else is running, is there going to be a vacancy, is there going to be a need for an election?”
She also encouraged not waiting until the last minute, because of the very hard deadline. If your nomination papers are even one minute late to the returning officer on April 10, they won’t be accepted.
“There’s no flexibility there,” Poffenroth added.
So what happens if the deadline comes and goes, and positions remain vacant on municipal councils and District Education Councils?
Poffenroth explained that if there are no candidates or not enough, a byelection will need to be held, likely in October or November.
“For District Education Councils and for Advisory Committees for the rural districts, in those cases, the minister is responsible, so either the Minister of Education or the Minister of Local Government will appoint people to those positions,” Poffenroth stressed.
Many people will also be elected by acclamation if no one else puts their name forward to run against them.
“Your Mayors and Councillors, these people are making decisions about matters that affect voters on a day-to-day basis. We’re talking about policing and fire services, parks and recreation and property taxes. So these are things that I think are really important to New Brunswickers. Knowing that your views are represented and that there are people who will advocate for your community on all these kinds of important issues. It’s really important that you have an opportunity to express your opinion about who you want on those councils,” Poffenroth spelled out.
She also expressed that it’s important people participate, shape and give back to their communities in the way they want to see them move forward over the next four years.
Voters will cast their ballots on May 11.
