Voting underway in Toronto and other cities with eye on turnout numbers

12 polling stations across Toronto will briefly extend voting hours, city says

CBC.ca
Oct. 25, 2022

Voting is underway in the Greater Toronto Area as voters cast their ballot in local races across
Ontario, with eyes on whether a trend of low voter turnout will continue.

Voter turnout province-wide in 2018 was 38.3 per cent, the lowest among municipal election turnouts recorded since 1982.

However, online and phone voting are more prevalent in the province this time around, with 217 municipalities using those options in some form, up from 175 in 2018.

Debbie Naipaul with 42 Voices Malvern, a non-partisan resident group focused on resident engagement in Malvern and Scarborough-Rouge Park, told CBC News she and other members of her team will be near a polling station today trying to convince people to vote.

"Our outreach, even yesterday, we still found that there are many residents in this community who have still not voted," she said. "So feet on the ground today trying to encourage people, answering questions, giving information that they may need to help them feel comfortable."

According to the Association of Municipalities, there are 6,306 candidates running for a total of 2,860 council seats across the province. Thirty-one per cent of candidates in the running are female, up from the 27 per cent who ran in 2018.

Polls in Toronto and other major cities opened at 10 a.m. and are set to close at 8 p.m., with variation in some regions. Twelve polling stations will briefly extend their voting hours due to "earlier disruptions," the City of Toronto says.

Also, in Vaughan, some polling station hours have been extended until 9 or 10 p.m. due to what the city describes as "technical administrative challenges" that have impacted standard voting hours.

Electoral disengagement

There have also been other signs of electoral disengagement in the province.

Acclamations in Ontario are up 15 per cent from four years ago, with 548 people automatically elected to council, mayor and reeve positions because they were running unopposed.

And in Brampton, there was a mad scramble to find enough election workers.

In an email obtained by CBC Toronto, Brampton city clerk Peter Fay sent a mass request for staff who could work the election. The request went out at 10:25 a.m. on Sunday, less than 24 hours before polls opened. The city was short by at least 150 workers, though city staff said it was taking steps to address the shortages.

Expectations of a low turnout are "even more of a reason to vote," Toronto mayoral candidate Gil Penalosa said after casting his ballot.

John Tory, the incumbent, expressed confidence that people love the city, will vote and give a solid mandate to the winners.

Dual crises

Michael Butac, 32, lined up to cast his ballot at a downtown Toronto polling station Monday morning. He said the next city council will have a number of important issues to tackle, including two parallel crises.

"I think there is a lot going on in the city that needs addressing, particularly the housing crisis," he said. "There is also the opioid crisis."

Julien Todd, an architecture student at the University of Toronto, said he was excited about his first election cycle. He said his big issues are transit, education and housing.

"Do research. Be involved. I think that's some of the most important things," he said.

The province recently granted "strong mayor" powers to Toronto and Ottawa with the goal of building housing more quickly.

Some local elections could also see public figures embark on the next chapter of their political lives.

Andrea Horwath, who led the provincial New Democrats through four elections, is making a bid for mayor of Hamilton, where she was first elected to city council in 1997. She stepped down as leader of the provincial party this year.

Another provincial party leader who stepped down following Ontario's June election is also running for mayor in a Greater Toronto Area city.

Steven Del Duca is on the ballot in Vaughan after he resigned as Liberal leader when he failed to win party status or his own legislative seat.