Elections Manitoba

QUICK FACTS ABOUT MANITOBA PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS

• Manitoba has 57 electoral divisions, 32 are in and around Winnipeg. Manitoba’s five northern electoral divisions cover almost two-thirds of the province. Electoral divisions may also be called ridings or constituencies.


• There are profiles of all 57 electoral divisions on the website based on information from the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics that include average income, number of households, family structures, types of homes, education and other interesting information.


• Manitoba has six registered parties: Communist Party of Canada – Manitoba (CPC-M); Green Party of Manitoba (GPM); Keystone Party (KP); Manitoba Liberal Party (MLP); The Manitoba Party (MP); New Democratic Party of Manitoba (NDP); and The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba (PC).


• Manitoba has eight days of advance voting.


• Manitoba was also the first province where voters could vote anywhere in the province during advance voting. If you’re in Brandon for the day, and normally live in Thompson, you can vote in Brandon. Your vote will be recorded in Thompson.


• Technology is playing a bigger role in delivering elections
• Laptops at the polls: computers make it faster and easier to come in and vote – your name is looked up on the laptop or scanned from your voter information card, and a ballot is issued. A line then goes through the voter’s name showing that they have voted.
• Vote counting machines: these machines read a paper ballot and hold the results until an authorized person prints and loads the results. The machines are not connected to the Internet and provide for quick results versus hand counting.


• The Manitoba Voter Register is a permanent voters list that is maintained on an ongoing basis by Elections Manitoba. There is no full province-wide enumeration, rather targeted efforts to reach out to voters who may not be on the register.


• Ballots list candidates in alphabetical order by last name. Middle initials are allowed, but the use of Dr. or Mr, Miss, Ms or other honorifics is not allowed.


• Manitoba’s electoral division boundaries are set by an independent commission who determine boundaries based on population and communities of interest. The boundaries are reviewed every ten years. The last review was in 2018.


• During a general election, Elections Manitoba’s staff grows from about 20 to over 7,000 people.