DISTRICT OF HOUSTON PROCEDURES FOR THE CONDUCT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS AND OTHER VOTING BYLAW NO. 1059, 2014

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1 DISTRICT OF HOUSTON PROCEDURES FOR THE CONDUCT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS AND OTHER VOTING BYLAW NO. 1059, 2014 A bylaw to provide for procedures for the conduct of local government and other voting. elections WHEREAS under the Local Government Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, Council may, by bylaw, determine various procedures and requirements to be applied to the conduct of local government elections and other voting; AND WHEREAS Council wishes to establish voting procedures and requirements under that authority; NOW THEREFORE the Council of the District of Houston, in open meeting assembled, as follows: enacts CITATION 1.0 This Bylaw may be cited for all purposes as "District of Houston Procedures for the Conduct of Local Government Elections and Other Voting Bylaw No. 1059, 2014". NO ADVANCE REGISTRATION 2.0 As authorized by section 54 of the Local Government Act, a person may register as an elector only at the time of voting. NO ADDITIONAL ADVANCE VOTING OPPORTUNITY 3.0 As authorized by section 97(3) of the Local Government Act, no second advance voting opportunity shall be held for the District. CHIEF ELECTION OFFICER MAYSET ADDITIONALADVANCE VOTING OPPORTUNITIES 4.0 As authorized by section 98 of the Local Government Act, the Council authorizes the Chief Election Officer to establish additional advance voting opportunities for each election or other voting opportunity, to be held in advance of general voting day, and to designate the voting places and to establish the date and voting hours for these voting opportunities. CHIEF ELECTION OFFICER MAY SET SPECIAL VOTING OPPORTUNITIES 5.0 As authorized by section 99 of the Local Government Act, the Council authorizes the Chief Election Officer to establish special voting opportunities for each election or other voting opportunity and to designate the voting places and to establish the date and voting hours for these voting opportunities.

2 Page 2 of 6 MAILBALLOT VOTING Authorization 6.0 As authorized by section 100 of the Local Government Act, the Council authorizes voting to be done by mail ballot and, in relation to this, may permit elector registration to be done in conjunction with this voting. 6.1 in accordance with the provisions of the Local GovernmentAct: (a) (b) persons who have a physical disability, illness or injury that affects their ability to vote at another voting opportunity; and persons who expect to be absent from the municipality on general voting clay and at the times of all advance voting opportunities. are permitted to vote by mail ballot. Application Procedure 6.2 A person wishing to vote by mail ballot must apply, by giving their name and address to the Chief Election Officer during the period commencing ten days before the first day of advance voting, and ending at 4:00 pm on General Voting Day. 6.3 Upon receipt of a request for a mail ballot and commencing on the first day of advance voting, the Chief Election Officer must: (a) make available to the applicant, a mail ballot package, together with a statement advising the elector that the elector must meet one or more of the mail ballot requirements specified in subsection 6.1, and that they must attest to such fact; and (b) immediately record and, upon request, make available for inspection: (i) the name and address of the person to whom the mail ballot package was issued; and (ii) information as to whether the person is registered as an elector, or is a "new elector", ifthat person is not on the register of electors. Voting Procedure 6.4 In order to vote using a mail ballot, the elector must mark the ballot in accordance with the instructions contained in the mail ballot package provided by the Chief Election Officer. 6.5 After marking the mail ballot, the elector must: (a) place the mail ballot in the secrecy envelope provided, and seal the secrecy envelope; (b) place the secrecy envelope in the certification envelope, and complete and sign the certification printed on such envelope, and then seal the certification envelope; (c) place the certification envelope, together with a completed elector registration application, if required, in the outer envelope, and then seal the outer envelope;

3 Page 3 of 6 (cl) mail, the outer envelope and its contents to the Chief Election Officer at the District of Houston, P.O. Box 370, Houston, B.C. VOJ IZOso that it is received no later than the close of voting on General Voting Day; or (e) have delivered, the outer envelope and its contents to the Chief Election Officer 3 at Election Headquarters located at the Houston Community Hall, 2302 Butler Avenue, Houston, BC. VOJ IZO so that it is received no later than the close of voting on General Voting Day. Replacement of Spoiled Ballot Where an elector unintentionally spoils a mail ballot before returning it to the Chief Election Officer, the elector may request a replacement ballot by advising the Chief Election Officer of the ballot being spoiled and by mailing or otherwise delivering by any appropriate means, the spoiled ballot package in its entirety to the Chief Election Officer. 67 The Chief Election Officer must, upon receipt of the spoiled ballot package in accordance with subsection 6.7, record such fact, and proceed in accordance with subsection 6.3. Mail Ballot Acceptance or Rejection 6.8 Upon receipt of each mail ballot envelope and its contents, the Chief Election Officer must: 6.9 Where: (a) immediately record the date of such receipt; and (b) then open the outer envelope and remove and examine the certification envelope and the completed elector registration application, if applicable, and if satisfied as to: (i) the identity and entitlement to vote of the elector whose mail ballot is enclosed; and (ii) the completeness of the certification; and (iii) the fulfilment of the requirements of the Local Government Act in the case of a person who is registering as a new elector, the Chief Election Officer must mark the certification envelope as "accepted", and must retain all such certification envelopes in secure custody to deal with any challenges made in accordance with section (a) upon receipt of an outer envelope, the Chief Election Officer is not satisfied as to the identity of the elector whose mail ballot is enclosed; or (b) in the case of a person required to complete an application for registration as an elector, such application has not been completed in accordance with the Local Government Act; or (c) the outer envelope is received by the Chief Election Officer after the close of voting on General Voting Day; the certification envelope must remain unopened, and the Chief Election Officer must mark such envelope as "rejected", and must note the reasons for doing so, and the mail ballot contained in such envelope must not be counted in the election.

4 Page 4 of Any certification envelopes and their contents rejected in accordance with subsection 6.9 must remain unopened and are subject to the provisions of the Local Government Act with regard to their destruction. At 6:00 pm on General Voting Day, the Chief Election Officer must, in the presence of at least one other person, including any scrutineers present, place all secrecy envelopes received up until that time into a portable ballot box designated for such purpose, where: (a) such secrecy envelopes were received from persons whose right to vote using a mail ballot has not been challenged; or (b) such challenge has been resolved, and the challenged person has been permitted to vote Where an outer envelope and its contents are received by the Chief Election Officer between 6:00 pm on General Voting Day and the close of voting on General Voting Day, the provisions of subsection 6.8 with regard to ballot acceptance apply, and the Chief Election Officer must, in the presence of at least one other person, including any scrutineers present, open such certification envelopes containing the secrecy envelopes, and place the secrecy envelopes containing the mail ballots into the portable ballot box identified in subsection Mail Ballot Procedures After the Close of Voting 6.13 As soon as possible after all of the secrecy envelopes have been placed in the portable ballot box designated for that purpose, the ballot box must be opened under the supervision of the Chief Election Officer, and in the presence of at least one other person and any scrutineers present, the secrecy envelopes must be opened and the mail ballots contained in such envelopes must be inserted into the vote counting unit designated to receive mail ballots, to be counted Any mail ballots which are returned by the vote counting unit when being counted, must be dealt with pursuant to the provisions contained in the Local Government Act, and under the supervision of the presiding election official, be reinserted into the vote counting unit to ensure that any acceptable marks are counted. Challenge of Elector 6.15 A person exercising the right to vote by mail ballot may be challenged in accordance with, and on the grounds specified in, the Local Government Act until the close of voting on General Voting Day The provisions of the Local Government Act apply, so far as applicable, where a challenge of an elector using a mail ballot has been made. EIector's Name Already Used 6.17 Where, upon receiving a request for a mail ballot, the Chief Election Officer determines that another person has voted or has already been issued a mail ballot in that e ector s name, the provisions of the Local Government Act apply, so far as applicable.

5 Page 5 of 6 BRAILLE EMBOSSED BALLOT TEMPLATE 7.0 The Council authorizes the Chief Election Officer to provide a braille embossed ballot template with the current election ballot information only to those qualified electors who are visually impaired in order to enable them to independently mark their ballot. The information on the braille embossed ballot template shall be embossed by a qualified braille transcriber with the candidates names in the same order as on the ballot presented to the general public and the Chief Election Officer must determine prior to use that the information on the braille template is exactly the same information as on the ballot. A visually impaired elector wishing to vote by using a braille embossed shall notify the Chief Election Officer prior to receiving a ballot. ballot template The braille embossed template shall be placed over the ballot by the Chief Election Officer or designate in such a way as to align the boxes where one would mark their ballot to lay directly over the boxes on the ballot. In order to vote using a braille embossed ballot template, the elector must mark the ballot in accordance with the instructions provided by the Chief Election Officer. The elector must immediately advise the Chief Election Officer if they have unintentionally spoiled a ballot before depositing it in the ballot box and request a replacement ballot. After marking the ballot, the elector must remove the braille embossed and place the ballot in the appropriate ballot box. ballot template The elector shall immediately return the embossed braille ballot template to the Chief Election Officer. NUMBER OF SCRUTINEERS AT VOTING PLACES 8.0 As authorized by section 100(3) of the Local Government Act: (a) the number of scrutineers for each candidate who may attend at an election is two (2) scrutineers for each ballot box in use; AND (b) the number of scrutineers who may attend at an other voting opportunity is two (2) scrutineers for the question and two (2) scrutineers against the question. RESOLUTION OF TIE VOTE AFTER JUDICIAL RECOUNT 9.0 In the event of a tie vote after a judicial recount, the tie vote will be resolved by conducting a lot in accordance with section 141 of the Local Government Act.

6 Page 6 of 6 GENERAL 10.0 if any part, section, sentence, clause, phrase or word by this Bylaw is for any reason held to be invalid by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, the invalid portion shall be severed and the decision that it is invalid shall not affect the validity of the remainder which shall continue in full force and effect and be construed as if the Bylaw had been adopted without the invalid portion Allwords, phrases and expressions used in this Bylaw shall have the meaning given to them in the Local Government Act. REPEAL 11.0 District of Houston Procedures for the Conduct of Local Government Elections and Other Voting Bylaw No, 1012, 2011 is hereby repealed. READ A FIRST TIME THIS 3 DAY OF JUNE, 2014 READ A SECOND TIMETHIS 3' DAY OF JUNE, 2014 READ A THIRD TIME THIS 3" DAY OF JUNE, 2014 DAY OF JUNE, 2014 ADOPTEDTVH/Q Iéxkmaarccz 9 MA "ilarocowe COR ATE SERVICES DIRECTOR