Who is eligible to vote in a municipal elections? 

Anyone can vote in a municipal election who, on the day of the election, is:

• 18 years of age or older
• a Canadian citizen; and
• You qualifity to vote in the Village of Merrickville-Wolford

There are 3 ways that you can qualify to vote in a municipality:

• As 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.
• As a non-resident elector if you own or rent property in a
  municipality, but it’s not the one where you live. You can only be a
  resident elector in 1 municipality. However, you can be a non-resident
  elector in any other municipality (or municipalities) where you own or
  rent property.
• As 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.
  Neither you nor your spouse qualify as a non-resident elector if you do not personally own or rent the property in the municipality. For example, if the property is owned by your business or your cottage is owned by a trust, you would not qualify as a non-resident elector.

Students

There is a special rule for students who may be living away from home while they attend school. If you are a student and consider your "home" to be the place where you live when you are not attending school (i.e. you plan on returning there), then you are eligible to vote in both your “home” municipality and in the municipality where you currently live while attending school.

Voting in more than 1 Municipality

If you qualify to vote in more than one municipality, you can vote in all of those municipal elections. For example, if you qualify as a resident elector in 1 municipality, and a non-resident elector in 3 other municipalities, you can vote in all 4 of those municipal elections.

Wards
The Village of Merrickville-Wolford is comprised of 2 Wards. You must vote in the Ward where you live.
If you are also the owner or tenant of a property in another ward, you are not permitted to vote in that Ward instead.

Make sure that you are on the voters’ list for that qualifying address.

Your name must be on the voters’ list in order for you to cast a ballot.

Who is not eligible to vote in a municipal elections? 

• A person who is serving a sentence of imprisonment in a penal or correctional institution.
• A corporation.
• A person acting as executor or trustee or in any other representative capacity, except as a voting proxy in accordance with section 44 of the Municipal Elections Act.
• A person who was convicted of the corrupt practice described in subsection 90(3) of the Municipal Elections Act(External link), if voting day in the current election is less than five years after voting day in the election in respect of which he or she was convicted.

Who is eligible to vote in a school board election?

An individual is elgible to vote in a school board election if they are:

• a Canadian citizen;
• at least 18 years old on Voting Day;
• a resident of the Village of Merrickville-Wolford or the owner or tenant of residential land in the Village of Merrickville-Wolford or are the spouse of such owner or tenant

If you are eligible to vote in a municipality because you are the owner or tenant (or spouse of an owner or tenant) of commercial property, you are not eligible to vote for a school trustee.

To determine which school board an individual is eligible to vote for, the following criteria is used:

• English language public school board - This is the default - unless you are qualified to vote for a separate or French board, you will vote for the English public school board in your area.
• English language separate school board - You must be Roman Catholic and you must be a separate school board supporter or the spouse of a separate school board supporter. If your spouse is a Roman Catholic and you are not, you are not eligible.
• French language public school board - You must be a French language rights holder and you must be a supporter (or the spouse of a supporter) of the French language public school board.
• French language separate school board - You must be a Roman Catholic and a French language rights holder and you must be a supporter (or the spouse of a supporter) of the French separate school board. If your spouse is a Roman Catholic and you are not, you are not eligible.

"Supporter" refers to which school board the school portion of your property taxes goes to. The default is the public school system. In order to be a separate school supporter you must direct your taxes to the separate school system. Contact the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (External link) (1-866-296-6722) for more information.

As a Canadian citizen, voting is your right and responsibility. Your community is shaped by the outcome of an election.

The individuals who are elected will make many important decisions including how tax dollars are spent in your community.

Next Election Day - Monday, October 24, 2022.

The Voters' List is a list of people who are eligible to vote in the 2022 Municipal Election.

Your name must be on the voters’ list in order for you to cast a ballot.

The voters’ list for each municipal election is prepared from data kept by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).

If your name is on the Voters' List, you will receive a Voter Information Letter in the mail which will provide you with a unique PIN. You will need this PIN in order to vote. Do not lose this letter. 

If you have not received a Voter Information Letter by October 11th, please contact the Municipal Office at 613-269-4791 ext. 221 to speak to Election staff.

VoterLookup.ca

By logging into voterlookup.ca (External link), eligible electors can:

• confirm or update their electoral information;
• add an elector name to an address; and,
• change school support.

OR

• Visit the Municipal Office (317 Brock Street West, Merrickville) during our regular office hours (Mon-Fri, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) and speak to someone from the Clerk's Office.

At Home

Using a touchtone phone or a computer connected to the internet

Voting Period:
October 17 - 24 (24/7)
Polls close at 8:00pm on October 24.

Voting By Phone (takes about 10-15 minutes)

• Call the number provided in your Voter Instruction Letter
• Enter your date of birth
• Enter your PIN
  If you receive an error after several attempts to login, this may be because your birthdate information is incorrect in our Voting System. Please contact the Voter Help Centre/Municipal Office (613-269-4791) and speak to elections staff to verify your details in our system.
• Vote (use the ‘#’ sign to confirm your selections)

Vote Electronically by Internet (takes about 5 minutes)
*THIS IS THE EASIER METHOD*

• Visit the voting website provided in your Voter Instruction Letter by entering the address into the address bar at the top of your internet browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.)
• Enter your date of birth
• Enter your PIN
• Enter the Captcha challenge (distorted letters and numbers) as shown on the screen
  If you receive an error after several attempts to login, this may be because your birthdate information is incorrect in our Voting System. Please contact the Voter Help Centre/Municipal Office (613-269-4791) and speak to elections staff to verify your details in our system.
• Follow the prompts through all screens, and complete your ballot by pressing ‘Cast Ballot’
• A Demonstration on how to vote can be found here

For more information, visit "Voting Electronically FAQs"

Voting Location: 

Merrickville Community Centre, 106 Read Street, Merrickville

Time:

10:00am - 8:00pm

When you arrive to vote in person you must show identification to prove that you are the person whose name appears on the voters’ list.
The identification must show your name and address.
Photo identification is not required. 
Your Voter Notification Card cannot be used as a piece of ID.

Examples of identification include:

• Ontario driver’s licence
• Ontario health card (if your name and address are printed on the card)
• mortgage, lease or rental agreement
• insurance policy
• credit card statement
• bill for hydro, water, gas, telephone, internet.

The Voters' Guide from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs gives information about voting in municipal and school board elections. 

Download the Voter's Guide.

For further information regarding the upcoming Municipal Election, you may also visit the Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO) website.

The purpose of this Accessibility Plan is for the use in the 2022 Municipal Election in the Village of Merrickville-Wolford, and it will address specific accessibility requirements.

Download the Accessibility Plan.