Report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the Proceedings of the Cumberland South By-Election June 19, 2018 Statement of Votes, Financial Information & Statistics Report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the Proceedings of the Cumberland South By-Election June 19, 2018 Statement of Votes, Financial Information & Statistics Published by the Chief Electoral Officer January 21, 2019 Elections Nova Scotia • 7037 Mumford Road, Suite 6, Halifax, NS, B3L 2J1 • PO Box 2246, Halifax, NS, B3J 3C8 902-424-8584 • 1-800-565-1504 • 902-424-7475 (TTY) • electionsnovascotia.ca • [email protected] January 21, 2019 The Honourable Kevin Murphy Speaker of the House of Assembly Province of Nova Scotia 1726 Hollis Street, Province House Halifax, NS B3J 2Y3 Dear Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the Cumberland South By-election, held on June 19, 2018. I respectfully request that you table this report to the House of Assembly at the next sitting. This report is submitted to the House of Assembly in accordance with Section 163 of the Elections Act. Respectfully submitted, Original signed by Richard Temporale, Chief Electoral Officer ii ELECTIONS NOVA SCOTIA Table of Contents Introduction. 1 Electoral Geography . 3 Electoral District. .3 By-election Results . .4 Number of Seats in the House of Assembly. 4 Voting Opportunities. 5 Write-in Ballots . .5 Returning Office Poll. 5 Advance Poll . .6 Community Polls. 6 Election Day Polls. 6 Mobile Poll. .6 Early Voting. 6 Rejected Ballots. .7 Voter Participation. 9 Registration. 9 Voter Turnout over 10 years . .10 Early Voter Turnout over 10 years . .11 Voter Information Card . 13 Communications. 14 Registered Parties. 16 Registered Parties’ Expense Limits. .16 Candidates. 17 Candidate Expense Limits. .17 Candidates, Official Agents, and Report Filing . .17 Responsibilities of the Official Agent. 18 Candidate Nomination Deposit. 19 Candidate Audit Fee. .19 Summary of Candidate Election Expenses and Reimbursements . 19 Election-related Costs. 21 Establishing Returning Office. .21 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CUMBERLAND SOUTH BY-ELECTION iii Direct Costs. .21 Indirect Costs . .22 Categorized By-election Administrative Office Costs. .23 Third Party Advertising. .23 Total Advertising Costs. .24 Total Cost . 24 Cost Per Elector. 25 Compliance. 26 Chief Electoral Officer Recommendations. 27 Audit Fee Subsidy for Registered Party Financial Reporting . 27 No Audit Requirement for Registered Party if less than $500 spent . 27 Penalty for Late Filing of Financial Report by Registered Party . .28 Readability Measure . 29 Appendix Appendix A • By-election Calendar, Cumberland South. 30 Appendix B • Map for Cumberland South Electoral District By-election. .32 Appendix C • Poll-by-Poll Results for Cumberland South Electoral District By-election. .34 Tables Table 1 • Votes Received by Candidate. 4 Table 2 • Number of Polls by Type . .5 Table 3 • Rejected Ballot Analysis . .7 Table 4 • Number of Electors and Voters by Age . .9 Table 5 • Voter Turnout in By-elections over 10 years . 10 Table 6 • Early Voter Turnout in By-elections over 10 Years . 11 Table 7 • Registered Party Spending Limits, Filing Dates, and Election Expenses. 16 Table 8 • Candidate Election Expense and Reimbursement Limits . 17 Table 9 • Registered Candidates, Official Agents, and Report Filing Dates. .18 Table 10 • Reporting Requirements of Official Agent of a Candidate. 18 Table 11 • Candidate Election Expenses and Reimbursements . .19 Table 12 • Returning Office Direct Costs. .21 Table 13 • Returning Office Indirect Costs. 22 Table 14 • Categorized Direct and Indirect By-election Costs . 23 Table 15 • Summary of By-election Advertising Costs . .24 Table 16 • Summary of Total By-election Costs. 24 Table 17 • Cost Per Elector . 25 Figures Figure 1 • Map of Cumberland South Electoral District. 3 Figure 2 • Percentage Votes Cast by Voting Opportunity . 7 Figure 3 • Percentage Rejected Ballots Since 2013 . 8 Figure 4 • Cumberland South Voter Participation. .10 Figure 5 • Voter Turnout in By-elections over 10 years. 11 Figure 6 • Early Voter Turnout in By-elections over 10 Years . 12 Figure 7 • Voter Information Card. .13 Figure 8 • Notice of Election and Notice of Grant of Poll. 14 Figure 9 • Voting Locations. 15 Abbreviations Atlantica Atlantica Party Association of Nova Scotia NSLP The Nova Scotia Liberal Party NSNDP Nova Scotia New Democratic Party PC Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia GPNS Green Party of Nova Scotia ACEO Assistant Chief Electoral Officer the Act Elections Act CEO Chief Electoral Officer ENS Elections Nova Scotia OA Official Agent PGE Provincial General Election RO Returning Officer Tariff Tariff of Fees and Expenses VIC Voter Information Card vi ELECTIONS NOVA SCOTIA Introduction The resignation of Progressive Conservative Leader and Member of the Legislative Assembly, Jamie Baillie, representing the electoral district of Cumberland South, created a vacancy in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly effective January 24, 2018. On Thursday, May 17, pursuant to an Order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, a writ of election was issued under the Elections Act (the Act) by the Assistant Chief Electoral Officer (ACEO) to Shelley Trenholm, the returning officer (RO) for the electoral district of Cumberland South, ordering that an election be held on Tuesday, June 19. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) published an election calendar, a copy of which is shown in Appendix A. The calendar counts downward from the day the writ was issued, Thursday, May 17, 33 days before election day, to 10 days after election day, Friday, June 29, the earliest date for the return of the writ of election. The calendar also identifies key filing dates for the official agents (OA) of the four candidates contesting the election. At the time of the by-election call, the distribution of seats by registered parties in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly was: 27 members from the Nova Scotia Liberal Party (NSLP); 16 from the Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia (PC); seven from the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party (NSNDP), and the Cumberland South vacancy. Nominations closed on Wednesday, May 30. Four candidates stood for election; one each from the Green Party of Nova Scotia (GPNS), NSLP, NSNDP, and PC parties. Early voting opportunities commenced on Monday, May 21, within four days of issuing the writ. This was the first day the returning office was open to the public and electors could vote by write-in ballot. The continuous poll in the returning office was offered every day, excluding Sundays, from the day the office opened to the public (May 21) through to the close of polls on election day at 8:00 pm. An advance poll was offered for seven days, June 9 through June 16, in one location. Community polls were also held in two locations on the Friday and Saturday before election day. Voters could choose any early voting opportunity available. On election day voters had to vote at their assigned poll or in the returning office. At the close of polls on election day, a total of 5,790 (53.0%) of the 10,927 people on the final list of electors in Cumberland South had voted. On Thursday, June 21, at the Official Addition, Tory Rushton (PC) was determined to have the most votes and was declared elected with the return of the completed writ of election on Tuesday, July 3. PROCEEDINGS OF THE CUMBERLAND SOUTH BY-ELECTION 1 Together, the four candidates had combined election expenses of $65,192.02. Two of four candidates achieved the required threshold of 10% of the valid votes qualifying them for reimbursement of their election expenses from public funds to a maximum of $17,391.01. Total reimbursement paid to these two candidates amounted to $34,782.02. For details, see Table 11, Candidate Election Expenses and Reimbursements. Candidates who spend $500 or more are required to have their financial report audited and are eligible to receive up to $815.18 to help defray audit fees. The amount reimbursed to the four candidates totaled $3,020.54. Election related expenses reported by the four registered parties totaled $12,476.90. Administrative costs for the by-election, excluding candidate reimbursements and audit fee subsidies were $108,728.10. This figure includes all direct costs incurred by the electoral district returning office and Elections Nova Scotia (ENS) to administer the by- election. Costs incurred prior to the issuance of the writ of election are not included. Examples of these costs include supplies, materials, computer equipment, software, consulting services, and any other related expenses expended between elections to ensure ongoing election readiness. The Cumberland South cost per elector of delivering the by-election (including candidate reimbursements from public funds) was $13.41, compared to $13.07 for the Provincial General Election (PGE) in 2017. 2 ELECTIONS NOVA SCOTIA Electoral Geography Electoral District The boundaries for Cumberland South were enacted in 2012 under the House of Assembly Act on the recommendation of the Nova Scotia Electoral Boundaries Commission. Figure 1 shows a map of the electoral district. A more detailed map with polling divisions and voting location catchment areas is shown in Appendix B. Figure 1 • Map of Cumberland South Electoral District PROCEEDINGS OF THE CUMBERLAND SOUTH BY-ELECTION 3 By-election Results On return of the writ to the CEO, the RO for Cumberland South, Shelley Trenholm, declared Tory Rushton (PC) elected. A summary of valid votes received by candidate is shown in Table 1. The poll-by-poll results are shown in Appendix C. Table 1 • Votes Received by Candidate Candidate Registered Party Votes Received Larry Duchesne NSNDP 292 Scott Lockhart NSLP 1,829 Bruce W. McCulloch GPNS 234 Tory Rushton PC 3,417 Number of Seats in the House of Assembly At the conclusion of the Cumberland South by-election the distribution of 51 seats in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly was: 27 NSLP; 17 PC, and 7 NSNDP members.