Annual REPORT - Elections Manitoba

7. PUBLIC INFORMATION AND EDUCATION
Elections Manitoba’s public information and education activities have continued to expand since
the 2007 election. Driven by the legislation, the two broad communications goals identified for
2011 were to provide clear and thorough information about the electoral process to all voters
and to motivate participation through targeted outreach initiatives developed to respond to the
needs of all Manitobans.
Community Relations
A series of community engagement initiatives targeted to specific groups were introduced or
enhanced for the recent election. These groups included:
• Women in shelters/persons with personal security concerns
• New Canadians
• Persons with disabilities
• Persons in homeless shelters (as per EA 10(1) and 10(2))
• University and college students
For all five target groups, consultations were held with key stakeholders, communications
materials were developed specific to the target group and, where appropriate, information
sessions or other informational activities were held.
Some specific initiatives introduced for the 2011 election included:
• New tools to assist voters with visual impairments and/or difficulty reading to vote
independently, including Braille ballot templates and candidate lists as well as large print
candidate lists and magnifying rulers.
• As mentioned earlier, information booths were placed on campus at six of the larger
universities and colleges in the province. More campus-based advance voting locations
were also made available.
• Enumeration was conducted at three homeless shelters and corresponding voting places
were set up on election day.
• Brochures with voting information for new Canadian citizens were distributed at all
citizenship ceremonies from July through October 4 (approximately 600)
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