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Online voting begins today

As of 10 a.m. this morning, City of Greater Sudbury residents have been able to vote in the Oct. 24 civic election, during which they’re invited to select a mayor, councillor and school board trustee
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Online voting for the civic election begins today, with Greater Sudbury residents able to vote 24/7 from 10 a.m. today until 8 p.m. Oct. 24.

Voters should be aware that although mayoral candidate Brian Bigger’s name will appear on the ballot, he is no longer seeking election. Although he withdrew his name last week, he did so after the deadline so is still considered a certified candidate.

To vote, residents need to consult the voter information letters they should have already received in the mail, city solicitor and clerk Eric Labelle told Sudbury.com.

If you don’t have a card, you have a problem with an easy resolution.

“Most likely, they may not be on the voters’ list, or if they’ve recently moved it may have gone to their previous address,” Labelle said.

Those without a letter, which includes such pertinent information as a web address and voter pin number required to vote, can visit any one of the city’s Voting Registration Centres to get one.

City of Greater Sudbury Citizen Service Centres and libraries have been designated as Voter Registration Centres. A full list of locations and their hours of operation is available by clicking here. To obtain a letter, residents need to present acceptable forms of identification. A full list of identification requirements is available by clicking here.

For those who wish to vote in-person using a paper ballot, the city finalized its list of voting stations throughout the city and published a full list online, which can be found by clicking here.

There are three advance paper ballot voting days from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both Oct. 15 and Oct. 22 at the following locations:

  • Centennial Community Centre and Arena (4333 Centennial Drive, Hanmer)
  • Chelmsford Community Centre and Arena (215 Edward Avenue, Chelmsford)
  • Tom Davies Square foyer (200 Brady Street, Sudbury)

There are 27 paper ballot voting locations on election day – Oct. 24 – from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. spread throughout the municipality. 

They’re all “vote anywhere” locations, Labelle said, noting people can stop by any location convenient to them to vote, where a ballot will be printed on demand.

People are encouraged to bring their voter information letter with them, as each location is equipped with scanners used to pull up voters’ information quickly.

“We’ve been trying to push the ‘are you on the voters list?’ concept for a long time … because we want people to be able to vote electronically as conveniently as possible,” Labelle said. “Whatever we can do to encourage avoiding the rushes.”

With online voting and a voters list prone to carry mistakes, there has been concern raised regarding voter fraud. Mayoral candidate Evelyn Dutrisac expressed concern last week, in that people can use incorrectly sent voter information letters and their corresponding codes to vote.

“With a city our size, we have at this point in our system about 117,000 eligible voters, so is there a possibility for someone to attempt some voter fraud?” Labelle asked. “It’s always possible in elections, and the system might alert us to certain anomalies to be able to investigate them further and forward them to police.”

Voter fraud is “generally not something that we see,” he added. “Every election there may be a few cases we might refer to the police for investigation, but it’s certainly not something that’s common.”

The potential penalty, as outlined in the Municipal Elections Act, is a fine of up to $25,000 or imprisonment up to six months.

In the event someone receives more than one voter information letter, the city spokesperson said people are encouraged to do any one of the following:

  • Print “Duplicate - Return to Sender” on it and drop it into any Canada Post mailbox. 
  • Bring it with them when they go to vote and give it to an election official, letting them know it’s a duplicate. 
  • Take it to any Voter Registration Centre during regular business hours up until the close of voting on election day to let them know it’s a duplicate. 

A full collection of voter resources is available on the City of Greater Sudbury website by clicking here.

Sudbury.com will continue covering civic election issues in the days leading up to Oct. 24, with all coverage collected on our municipal election page, which can be accessed by clicking here.

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.


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Tyler Clarke

About the Author: Tyler Clarke

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
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