Stricter voting rules that now require voters to show photo identification at polling stations have a former chief and even some candidates wondering if people in northern communities will cast ballots at all in the Oct. 14 federal election.

Photo identification cards are rare in many small, remote communities in Canada's North. So in past elections, potential voters in those communities have only needed another elector — like a neighbour or a community leader — to vouch for their identity at polling stations.

But Elections Canada set limits on "vouching" last year, so that an elector can vouch for only one community member at a time. It has also imposed stricter rules on required identification.

"They're going to say, 'The hell with voting,'" Robert Sayine, a former chief in Fort Resolution, N.W.T., told CBC News on Monday.

Sayine said he believes elders will be discouraged by the new rules, which would require residents in small, close-knit communities — where everyone has known each other for years — to acquire photo identification.

"I was born here, I lived here, I'm an elder now," he said. "Why do I need all these things?"

Western Arctic NDP MP Dennis Bevington, who kicked off his re-election campaign Monday, said the changes in voting requirements pose a serious issue in the North.

"In many cases, people in the smaller communities, the polling officials will have known people for their whole lives, but yet they still won't be allowed to let them vote unless they have the proper identification," Bevington said.

Conservative candidate Brendan Bell, a former Northwest Territories cabinet minister, said the territorial government did visit smaller communities this past summer to make sure residents have proper identification.

Bell said it's in the best interest of all parties to keep the voting process as simple as possible, noting Elections Canada is trying to limit voter fraud.

"You're always trying to strike a balance," Bell said.

"I know that there've been many many complaints about voter fraud, or potential voter fraud, throughout the country. That is something we have to take very seriously."

But the new requirements don't make sense in the North, said David Connelly, a former N.W.T. returning officer.

"To say a chief can only vouch for one person in his community poses a limitation in small communities that probably really isn't necessary from the point of view of the security of the vote, and probably puts more restrictions in terms of access than certainly I as a former returning officer would like to see," he said.

Elections Canada has said voters can also present documents that show their name and address, such as a current utility bill, along with identification cards like a health card.

People who want to cast a ballot on Oct. 14 are being urged to check with Elections Canada to make sure they have everything they need to vote.