British Columbia Supreme Court Dismisses Constitutional Challenge of Voter ID Requirement
9 May 2010 | Voting
In Henry v. Canada (Attorney General), the British Columbia Supreme Court rejected a claim by three voters that the new federal voter ID requirements were unconstitutional.
Previously, voters did not need to present ID in order to obtain a ballot. If their name was on the registered list, all that was required to obtain a ballot was for the voter to state their name and address. If they were not on the registered list, they were allowed to swear an oath that they were entitled to vote, and then they would receive a ballot.
Following a debate over the openness of the voter registration system to fraud, the federal government tightened up the process by requiring that voters produce identification before being given a ballot. Now, in order to obtain a ballot, voters must present identification that establishes their identity and their address. If they do not have sufficient ID to establish this, they can be vouched for by a voter in the same electoral district who meets the above criteria. If they cannot meet these conditions they will not be allowed to vote.
The voters claimed that the new voter ID requirements were inconsistent with section 3 of the Charter, which guarantees that “each citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein”.
The Court ruled that the voter ID requirements violated section 3 of the Charter, but that they were justified as a reasonable limit under section 1 of the Charter.
The legal test applied by the Court to find a violation of section 3 of the Charter was whether the new voter ID requirements interfere with the right of each citizen to play a meaningful role in the electoral process. The Court held that the voter ID requirements interfered with the rights of some citizens to play a meaningful role in the electoral process as the requirements could have the effect of preventing a citizen from voting if they did not have the required identification and if they could not find someone to vouch for them.
In finding that this violation could be justified under section 1 of the Charter the Court relied on evidence presented by the federal government that the purpose of the new voter ID requirements was to prevent electoral fraud and to preserve the integrity of the system. The Court also held that the new voter ID requirements were a minimal impairment of the right to vote as there are numerous government agencies, including Elections Canada that can help anyone without the required documentation to obtain it in order to vote.