Élections Québec says that non-binary voters wanting to update their address in the provincial registry will have to choose a “sex” option that is either male or female ahead of this year’s election. Gender or sex is not a requirement to vote, but the electoral records currently include only the two options. “Currently, our system is designed to record electors’ sex as either male or female,” said spokesperson Julie St-Arnaud-Drolet. “We will be overhauling this system after this fall’s elections, and we will record gender rather than sex. We are keeping track of all requests from electors who wish to identify as non-binary and we will update this information as soon as our system is able to accommodate it.” The amended Election Act says that voters must include their name, date of birth and sex, but a section of the act says: “The designation of sex appearing in a person’s act of birth and act of death designates the person’s sex attested at birth or the person’s gender identity if the gender identity does not correspond to the sex attested at birth.” St-Arnaud-Drolet said that the adjustment to the “sex” option will be made as soon as the new system is launched after the Oct. 5 general election to comply with the updates in the Election Act. For one non-binary person who flagged the issue to CTV News, the change is encouraging, but comes late. “This is really encouraging and all, but I don’t understand why, four years after the civil law has been amended, they still haven’t changed their processes,” they said. “I understand that IT systems take time to change, but four years is four years. They should have anticipated that in four years there would be a new election.” The person asked not to be identified due to fear of harassment. They pointed out that the Ministry of Education was able to update its systems immediately, and they received their birth certificate without a sex marker. They said they hoped to vote in 2026, and are frustrated at having to choose a sex marker that doesn’t fit. “This isn’t just like a small card to get access to one separate service that isn’t going to change my mind,” they said. “This is literally about elections, and the party in power right now has such a stance on non-binary people that I was really looking forward to this election and voting against them, as I have always.”
