Partial victory in lawsuit over French-only Quebec election voting mailouts

A voter casts their ballot in the Quebec provincial election, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022 in Montreal. A Superior Court judge has rejected a request by the Conservative Party of Quebec to have a recount in a Quebec City-area riding it lost by a slim margin to the Coalition Avenir Québec on Oct. 3. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Quebec Superior Court ordered Elections Quebec to send reminder cards in both French and English.

The court also ruled that it would not force the agency to resend the original voter information cards, which were sent only in French.

“The evidence on the record convinces the tribunal that this would be an impractical and extremely costly undertaking,” a Superior Court ruling on Wednesday said. “The tribunal will not order the dispatch of an English version of the registration notices and the voter’s guide.”

The ruling adds, however, that Elections Quebec can send out reminder cards in both languages.

The court ordered Quebec’s chief electoral officer to prepare the reminder card with a complete list of candidates along with polling stations in both languages. By doing so, the court suspended the Charter of the French Language for 10 days “for the purposes of sending information documents during an election.”

In its analysis, the court acknowledged the complaint from plaintiff Geoffrey Chambers, who sued after voter information cards were sent out in French only, adding a historic precedent from recent election history.

“It is clear that the loss of the right to vote in an election is permanent,” the ruling reads. “The evidence suggests that there is a strong risk that a large number of English-speaking older people will be unable to exercise their right to vote due to a lack of comprehensible information. The loss of a single vote was sufficient to annul the federal election in Terrebonne.”

READ MORE:

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The lawsuit was filed in early September after French-only mailouts were sent with details on where and how to vote, due to Quebec’s language law: Bill 96.

Elections Quebec said that previous election material was sent out in both languages, and the agency said that it requested an exemption from the language law to continue the practice.

The documents included a QR code for English information.