Early History
The first provisions in legislation regarding the oversight of Northwest Territories elections was adopted in 1880 with an amendment to the Northwest Territories Act passed by the Parliament of Canada. The first election legislation was known as Section 15 under the Act.
The election legislation established basic parameters for the creation of electoral districts, eligibility of electors and how the ballot casting process was to be conducted. Oversight was held by the Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories to royally proclaim electoral district boundaries on the formula of 1000 electors per 1,000 square miles (2,600 km2). Other responsibilities included issuing writs and appointing Chief Returning Officers to oversee each election.
The first legislation passed by the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly regarding election administration was An Ordinance respecting controverted elections. This piece of legislation was given Royal Assent on August 6, 1884. The ordinance was put in place to deal with potentially corrupt electoral practices. The ordinance required a valid elector to petition the Lieutenant Governor, with a sworn affidavit stating the offense and a fee of $10.00 Canadian dollars to be presented within two months of the writ being returned.
In 1888 the Lieutenant Governor ceded his powers of electoral district creation. The powers instead came under federal control with the passage of the North-West Representation Act through the Parliament of Canada. The formula for representation of the electoral districts was revised to 2500 electors per district and no size restriction. The first comprehensive legislation detailing electoral procedures was passed by the Legislative Assembly, An Ordinance respecting Elections to the North-West Legislative Assembly was given Royal Assent on December 31, 1892. This legislation formed the basis of electoral law that is in current use today in the territories as well as Saskatchewan and Alberta.
In the years from 1881 until 1905 the Chief Returning Officer for each electoral district was responsible for certifying returns and publishing them in local journals of records. No official publications on election wide statistics and returns were compiled into a single source until the resumption of elections in 1951.
Read more about this topic: Elections NWT
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