Voters are entitled to three consecutive hours free from work to vote during advance voting or on election day.

If your work schedule can’t accommodate you to take four consecutive hours off, your employer must provide extra time off. 

This doesn’t mean you get to just take off from work for three hours though. It just means you have to be given a window of three hours to vote at some point during the day. So if you work from 1:30 PM to 9:30 PM, you still have three hours before your shift begins to vote (10 AM to 1 PM).

Your boss can't dock your pay or penalize you for taking the time to vote. You have to be paid your regular wage for the hours you're not working while you vote. Have that conversation with your employer now, as they have the right to decide when you get your time off!

If you already know you're going to be busy, unable to physically reach the polls, or away on vacation (lucky you) on Election Day, make a plan to vote early! 

You have four options: 

1. Vote by mail! In order for your ballot to be counted, it must arrive at the local returning office no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day. 
2. Vote at an advanced poll! Advance voting will be available 9 days prior to the election and  the Monday 7 days prior to the election, from 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.
3. Vote at home! You can contact your returning office and request that special voting officers visit your home if you are unable to attend the ordinary or advance polls due to the illness or other incapacity, or due to the illness or incapacity of a person for whose care you are primarily responsible. 
4. Vote in a nursing or care home! If you are living at a nursing home, special care home, or other treatment centre, you can vote within the treatment centre - either at an “additional poll” if one is set up in the common area, or request a personal bedside ballot box visit from a special ballot team at a pre-arranged time.

Students who are ordinarily resident in one electoral district or region of New Brunswick but are attending a post-secondary institution elsewhere in the province, have the unique opportunity to have their name placed either on the voters list in their “home” electoral district or region and vote for a candidate in that district or region, or to have their name placed on the voters list for the electoral district or region where they are living while going to school.

If a student from another province declares that New Brunswick is now their home, or “ordinary residence”, and has lived in New Brunswick for at least 40 days, that person can apply to be put on the voters list and to vote.

Vote by mail! In order for your ballot to be counted, it must arrive at the local returning office no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day. 

You can choose to vote by mail, or find your nearest polling station. Voting places are being confirmed and will be published here when available. 

Temporarily working or studying outside of the province does not interrupt an individual’s status of being ordinarily resident and therefore they are still eligible to vote in New Brunswick elections. They can apply to the local returning office in the region where they normally live to request that a mail-in ballot be sent to them.

You can vote in your new electoral district! Make sure to register your new address before Election Day by contacting Elections NB at 1-888-858-VOTE (8683) - or, at the polls you can provide one or more pieces of ID that between them show your name, current address, and signature.

To register to vote, you can use the address of a shelter, hostel, or similar support centre that provides food, lodging, or other social services. 

These support centres may provide additional polls to vote within the centre, or you can request a personal bedside ballot box visit from a special ballot team at a pre-arranged time.

If the above options aren’t available to you, you can have an eligible elector who is on the List of Electors at the polling station vouch for you, and swear an oath that you meet the qualifications to vote.