MONTREAL - Quebec election officials are debunking the notion that voter registration requests are up since the 2012 election, as Denis Dion, a spokesman for the electoral office, told CTV Montreal that only one of five ridings cited by the Parti Quebecois has seen a rise in demands to vote.

One of the five ridings had 56 more requests over this time in the last election, while the others were significantly down.

The Parti Quebecois had asked the Director General of Elections to take action concerning reports of unusual voter registration requests in three Montreal-area ridings and two others in the Eastern Townships.

Justice Minister Bertrand Saint-Arnaud, MNA Leo Bureau-Blouin and Families Minister Nicole Leger demanded stricter supervision and training for election officials determining voter eligibility, daily reports on voter registration and a post-revision report.

Bertrand asked, "will the Quebec election be stolen by people from Ontario and the rest of Canada?"

Leger questioned the reported increase in demands to vote, noting that the voter registration list had been updated two months ago.

The controversy began Saturday when the Le Devoir newspaper reported the resignation of an election official who commented on a wave of requests to vote from people who were not on the permanent list.

Dion, spokeserson for Chief Electoral Officer Jacques Drouin, shot down a quote from former electoral worker Mathieu Vandal that registration requests were being handled like "Trudeau airport" visas.

That is "absolutely false; we don't work that way," said Dion.

The ridings involved in the PQ complaint were Sherbrooke, Saint-Francois, Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne, Westmount-Saint- Louis and Sainte-Marie-Saint-Jacques.

Only the Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne area saw a small bump in requests, with 56 more demands than in 2012 at this time of the election campaign.

Requests at the other four ridings were down considerably, including in Saint-Francois, where officials have received 172 fewer demands, according to numbers supplied by Dion.

PQ leader Pauline Marois had said on Saturday that she was worried by the reported issue and asked the DGE to look into the situation.

According to the Quebec Election Act, “Every person who has attained 18 years of age, is a Canadian citizen, has been domiciled in Quebec for six months, is not under curatorship and is not deprived of election rights pursuant to this Act, the Referendum Act, the Act respecting elections and referendums in municipalities or the Act respecting school elections is a qualified elector.”

Liberal leader Philippe Couilard was repeatedly asked about the issue Sunday but would not be drawn in. "I am reassured that the DGE is going to fulfill its mandate," he said.

When asked if he thought that the new voters had been inspired to sign up to vote because of the recent rise in talk of a referendum, Couillard said that, "it's possibly due to the referendum talk but it's also possible that they're concerned about the economy, the rise of the deficit, cuts in education."

Residents complain of refusals

Conversely, some have complained that they have been unreasonably refused the right to vote in Quebec.

Kendra Levasseur told CTV Montreal that she moved to Montreal from Ottawa four years ago and has a job and a driver's license but was refused because she does not possess a Quebec medicare card.

"I was incredibly frustrated I argued with them, I debated with them," she told CTV Montreal.

Meanwhile another anonymous source posted an alleged conversation with election officials online in which officials are heard refusing his request to get on the voters' list.

The man, apparently a McGill doctoral student who has lived in Quebec since 2008, is heard arguing that electoral law should recognize his passport and Hydro bills as proof of Quebec residency but officials are then heard saying that they have suspicions about his Quebec residency and deny his request because he does not have a Quebec medicare card nor a Quebec drivers' license.

The Canadian Press had previously interviewed two other students with similar complaints. McGill student Joey Broda, said he voted in the 2012 Quebec provincial election but was initially turned away this time when he tried to register.

Broda, a third-year engineering student and Winnipeg native, said he was finally able to register after going to a different office.

Part of the reason he wanted to register was because he was worried about another referendum, he said, but added: "It's also our democratic right."

Another McGill student, Dune Desormeaux, said Saturday he was turned away when he tried to register.

The 21-year-old, originally from British Columbia, said he thought he brought the necessary identification but was told he couldn't vote because he was a student.

Since moving to the province, Desormeaux said he has only returned to British Columbia for a few weeks a year.

"I had anticipated having no problems," he said.

"I brought the documents requested — my picture ID and a proof of address. And basically I was told, after a reasonably long discussion, that I would not be eligible to vote because I was not domiciled in Quebec."

Dion said that the problem lies with the concept of domicile and the documents required to prove domicile are not explicitly written out.

"Legally in Quebec, the notion of domicile is the one you find in the Civil Code and you don’t have a list of documents, you have the mention of a intention. This is a theoretical concept.”

Ridings at play

The five ridings cited by the press conference include one held by the CAQ, two by the PQ and two by the Liberals.

In the Eastern Townships, the PQ won St. Francois with a narrow 300 vote margin over the Liberals in 2012. Sherbrooke, long held by Jean Charest, was taken by the PQ’s Serge Cardin by 2,700 votes.

The CAQ won Groulx CAQ in 2012 by 1,700 votes over the PQ, while the Liberals were 8,000 out of first place.

The Liberals held Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne by 2,000 votes over the Parti Quebecois while the Liberals also held their Westmount-Saint-Louis stronghold by over 12,000 votes.

Registration deadlines

The deadline for regular registration is Tuesday at 9 pm. Starting Wednesday and until April 3 at 2 pm is the special revision period. Voters have to go in person to the riding returning officer's office. Some special sessions for voter list revisions will be held for the first time ever during this period on certain university and CEGEP campuses.

-With a file from The Canadian Press