Polling for the October 26 municipal election in Fort Frances will use similar technology to previous years, with polls being open for about nine days.
Municipal Clerk for the Town of Fort Frances Chelsea Greig said that residents will have lots of time to vote.
“Online voting will start on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 10 a.m. Central time and then it will end Monday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m.” She said. “It will be online and telephone voting, plus some in-person voting. Residents can expect in the coming days or the next couple weeks to receive their voter information in their mail. If they’re not signed up yet, they can contact the clerk’s office and we’ll help them out.”
Ontario residents can confirm whether they are registered to vote via registertovoteon.ca.
There are several criteria which make people eligible to vote in the upcoming municipal election, according to the province of Ontario.
You must be a Canadian Citizen who is 18 years old or older and qualify to vote in the municipality. To qualify to vote in a municipality you must be one of the following:
1. “A resident elector– If you live in the municipality. You may own, rent, live in shared accommodation where you do not pay rent or live in the municipality but do not have a fixed address. Being a resident elector is the most common type of eligibility.”
2. “A non-resident elector– If you own or rent property in a municipality, but it’s not the one where you live. While you can be a resident elector in only one municipality (with the exception of students), you can be a non-resident elector in any other municipality (or municipalities) where you own or rent property.”
3. “The spouse of a non-resident elector– If your spouse owns or rents property in the municipality or municipalities other than the one where you live.”
Students living away from their communities who are 18 years of age may also be able to vote in the municipality where they are studying.
“There is a special rule for students who may be living away from home while they attend school,” the Ontario government says. “If you are a student and consider your “home” to be the place where you live when you are not attending school (that is, you plan on returning there), then you are eligible to vote in both your “home” municipality and in the municipality where you live while attending school.”
Anyone with questions about eligibility or needing to register can contact the clerk’s office.
Anyone needing assistance to vote will also be able to receive help during the voting window, Greig said.
“Between Oct. 19 and 24, we will have different locations set up, which we’ll be advertising shortly, where people will have the opportunity to do online voting with in-person assistance,” she said. “I will be here at the Civic Centre during regular business hours, so if anyone needs to come in and vote using a tablet, they can do so. And then October 26, the Civic Centre is open for the entire day for online voting in person.”
Using the technology, votes will be tabulated pretty quickly, with the results announced the next day.
Greig emphasized the importance of residents making sure they vote as the decisions made by council can impact many aspects of day-to-day life in Fort Frances.
“The real importance is that taxpayers do have more options this election than they did last election,” Greig said. “It’s definitely worthwhile to look into all of those putting their names forward. If they’re running on certain values, do you share those values? Really, in a municipality this small, every vote really does count. Do you feel represented by the people sitting at that table, or, are there people that you are interested in having represent you at the table? When it comes down to it, in past elections, there have been some very, very close calls. So every vote does matter. There are so many different ways that the municipality affects people’s daily lives that they don’t even think about, and that’s why it’s important to make sure you’re part of the process.”
The Fort Frances Times is working to give in-depth coverage leading up to polling week, candidate profiles will be published over the next few weeks.
The Times and the Fort Frances Labour Council are hosting a candidate Town Hall on Oct.1 at the Memorial Sports Centre Auditorium, where voters will have the opportunity to hear from the candidates for mayor and town council.
Any volunteer inquiries or general questions can be directed to Flynn by emailing aflynn@fortfrances.com. For accommodation requests, call The Fort Frances Times at (807) 274-7286.
