Voting in provincial elections

You can vote in person on election day from 9 AM to 9 PM (Eastern Time) at your assigned voting location based on your home address.

1. When you arrive at a voting location, you will be asked to show your ID to an election official who will check if you are on the voters list.
2. If you are not on the list, the election official will add you to the voters list and ask you to sign a declaration.
3. The election official will then issue you a ballot.
4. You will go behind a voting screen to mark your ballot. To vote for your chosen candidate, mark an X in the circle beside their name, and return the completed ballot to the box.
5. In a voting location with technology, you will place your marked ballot into the secrecy folder and take it to an election official operating a tabulator. In a voting location without technology, you will fold your ballot and place it into a ballot box yourself.

Visit our accessibility page to find tools and services.

You can vote at any of the advance voting locations in your electoral district. Advance voting locations are open from 10 AM to 8 PM (Eastern Time).

1. When you arrive at the voting location, you will be asked to show your ID to an election official who will check if you are on the voters list.
2. If you are not on the list, the election official will add you to the voters list and ask you to sign a declaration.
3. The election official will then issue you a ballot.
4. You will go behind a voting screen to mark your ballot. To vote for your chosen candidate, mark an X in the circle beside their name, and return the completed ballot to the ballot box.
5. You will place your marked ballot into the secrecy folder and take it to an election official operating a tabulator.

Visit our accessibility page to find tools and services.

You can vote in person at your returning office from the day after an election in your electoral district has been called until 6 PM the day before election day.

1. When you arrive at the returning office, an election official will ask you to show your ID and complete an application form to vote by special ballot by signing a declaration.
2. The election official will then issue you a ballot.
3. You will go behind a voting screen to mark your ballot. Return the completed ballot to the ballot box.

Visit our accessibility page to find tools and services.

Voting by mail is only available once an election has been called.

To vote by mail, you will need to complete a Vote by Mail application and provide a copy of at least one piece of government-issued ID showing your name and home address.

Please note, once a vote by mail application has been approved, you cannot vote by using any other voting method.

You can apply to vote by mail by:

• using our online Vote by Mail application
• downloading and printing an application

If you choose to print your application, you must submit your signed and completed application form, along with a photocopy of one government-issued proof of name and home address (such as a driver’s licence, Ontario Photo ID Card) or one government-issued proof of name and one proof of name and home address from a non-government entity (such as a utility bill or pay stub), in one of two ways:

• Email to sb@elections.on.ca
• Mail to Elections Ontario, Special Ballot, 26 Prince Andrew Place, Toronto, Ontario M3C 2H4

We must receive your application by 6 PM (Eastern Time) six days before election day.

Once your Vote by Mail application has been reviewed and approved, a voting kit with a ballot will be mailed to you at the mailing address provided.

You can track the status of your voting kit using the confirmation code received after submitting your application. It will take at least 24 hours for the tracking number of your voting kit to become available. If you provided an email address when applying, your confirmation code was also emailed to you.

We must receive your completed voting kit by 6 PM (Eastern Time) on election day to be counted.

You can use the prepaid envelope to return your voting kit or you can drop it off at your returning office. If you are outside Canada, you will be responsible for the international postage.

You can request to vote by home visit if you:

• are unable to go to your returning office or voting location; or
• require assistance to vote.

To request a home visit, contact your returning office once an election has been called in your electoral district. You can use Voter Information Service to find your returning office contact information after an election has been called.

If your request is approved, two election officials will bring a voting kit to your home to assist you in voting. You will need to show one piece of ID and complete the application form before receiving your ballot.

You will write the first and last name of the candidate of your choice on the write-in ballot. Then, you will fold your ballot and place the ballot in the envelopes as indicated before returning it to the election official.

Voting in hospital is only available during a general election. As part of our three-day hospital program, election officials visiting participating hospitals will bring voting kits to the hospital to give electors temporarily hospitalized the opportunity to vote.

Hospitalized electors will need to:

• Show one piece of ID and complete the application form before receiving their ballot. A hospital bracelet can be used as proof of name and home address.
• Write the first and last name of the candidate of their choice on the write-in ballot, fold the ballot and place it in the envelope as indicated before returning it to the election official.

To find out if the hospital you are staying at is participating in the vote in hospital program, you will need to call the returning office in the electoral district that the hospital is located in. You can use the hospital’s postal code when using Voter Information Service to find the returning office contact information after an election has been called. 

If you do not have a permanent address you can still vote during a by-election or general election. The place where you have returned to most often to eat or sleep in the past five weeks is considered to be your address. 

1. If you do not have ID showing both your name and home address, the administrator of your shelter, food bank, or community health care facility that you use most often will provide you with a Certificate of Identity and Residence form. 
2. Both you and the administrator must sign the form. You will use this form as your ID when you go to vote. 
3. Your administrator will find your assigned voting location using our Voter Information Service and will write your voting location information on the form.
4. You will take this form to your assigned voting location and give it to the election official. The election official will collect the form from you and issue you a ballot to vote.

Studying in Ontario

If you are an eligible elector studying in Ontario but living away from home for school, you have two options for where to vote:

1. in the electoral district for your permanent home address; or
2. in the electoral district for your address while attending school.

You will need to show ID to vote. On-campus voting is only for students living on campus.

Studying outside of Ontario

If you are an eligible elector studying outside Ontario, you can still vote by:

1. vote by mail; or
2. adding yourself to the Register of Absentee Voters

Being on the Register of Absentee Voters means that you will automatically be sent a voting kit to vote by mail whenever an election in your electoral district is called.

As a member, or family member of a member of the Canadian Forces, living outside your electoral district, you can still vote by:

1. vote by mail; or
2. adding yourself to the Register of Absentee Voters

Being on the Register of Absentee Voters means that you will automatically be sent a voting kit to vote by mail whenever an election in your electoral district is called.

As a person, or family member of a person in the service of the Government of Canada or Government of Ontario, you can still vote by:

1. vote by mail; or
2. adding yourself to the Register of Absentee Voters

Being on the Register of Absentee Voters means that you will automatically be sent a voting kit to vote by mail whenever an election in your electoral district is called.

Marking your ballot

When you go to your voting location, an election official will present you with a ballot that includes a list of candidates running for election in your electoral district. You will then go behind a voting privacy screen to mark your ballot. To vote for your chosen candidate, mark an X in the circle beside their name.

When you go to your returning office voting location, an election official may present you with a write-in ballot. You will write the first and last name of the candidate of your choice on the write-in ballot, and you will fold your ballot and place it into a ballot box yourself.

If you make a mistake

If you have made a mistake and marked your ballot incorrectly, you may return the incorrectly marked ballot to the election official. The election official will cancel the ballot and reissue you a new ballot. You will mark the new ballot accordingly and place it into the a ballot box yourself. The election official will write “cancelled” on the back of the incorrectly marked ballot. Your incorrectly marked ballot will not be placed in the ballot box but in an envelope for cancelled ballots.

Cancelled ballots will be counted after the polls close on election night but are not part of the official results.

Declining your ballot

Ontario’s election law allows voters to decline their ballot. To decline your ballot, tell the election official that you are declining your right to vote when they hand you a ballot. This is a public process done out loud.

The election official will mark “declined” on the back of the ballot. Your ballot will not be placed in the ballot box but in an envelope for declined ballots.

Declined ballots will be counted after the polls close on election night and will be a part of the official results under “ballots declined by voters”.