Presently, enumeration is conducted through the appointment of enumerators who go door to door to record the names of those persons who are eligible electors. The enumeration is carried out over a nine-day period and employs approximately 100 enumerators. The cost to conduct enumeration is estimated at over $35,000.

A number of jurisdictions including, Canada, Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Ontario and Quebec, have established a permanent list of electors. These jurisdictions use a number of ways to update their list of electors including, when required by their respective Elections Acts, a door-to-door enumeration. Manitoba, Nova Scotia, PEI, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories depend solely on the door-to-door method to produce a list of electors.

The Standing Committee on Rules and Procedures notes that significant opportunities for savings could be realized with the development of a permanent list of electors. It is also noted that information contained in the permanent list of electors, with appropriate privacy safeguards, could be shared with municipal and aboriginal governments.