What is written on a federal election ballot?

A federal election ballot in Canada lists the names of the candidates in alphabetical order. Discover Canada describes the ballot-marking process directly: Mark an "X" in the circle next to the name of the candidate of your choice. So each ballot lists the candidates by name (with their political parties beside them), and voters mark their choice next to a single name.

Voting is secret. Discover Canada commits to ballot secrecy: "Canadian law secures the right to a secret ballot" and "your vote is secret. You will be invited to go behind the screen to mark your ballot." So the ballot lists the names of candidates, but how a voter marks it is a private matter — protected by federal law.

The voting process has clear steps. Discover Canada describes the process: voters bring identification and the voter information card to the polling station; "the poll official will tear off the ballot number and give your ballot back to you to deposit in the ballot box." Then voters go behind a screen, mark their ballot, fold it, and deposit it. The ballot itself names the candidates running in the voter's electoral district.

The candidate with the most votes wins. Discover Canada writes that "the candidate who receives the most votes becomes the MP for that electoral district." So even though there can be many candidates listed on the ballot, only one MP is elected per riding — based on simple plurality of votes. The ballot's listing of candidate names allows voters to make this choice. The ballots are counted after the polls close, and results are announced on radio, television, and the Elections Canada website.

The question is testing whether new citizens know what appears on a federal election ballot. The standard ballot lists the names of the candidates in alphabetical order. The right test answer matches that.

The wrong answer choices each get the ballot's content wrong. "Political parties of candidates" is partially true (the party name appears beside each candidate's name) but the primary listing is the candidates' names. "Names of provinces" is unrelated to the federal ballot. "A summary of election issues" is not what a ballot contains — the ballot is just a list of candidates. Only the alphabetical-list-of-candidate-names answer matches.