On October 26, 2026, voters across Ontario will elect their city councils, mayors, and school board officials for the next 4 years. Municipal governments in Ontario are responsible for a majority of the services and infrastructure that you encounter in your daily life. Many of these responsibilities can have huge impacts on our carbon footprint and climate resiliency, such as public transit, waste management, water and sewage, local zoning rules, and infrastructure to mention just a few.
Given the importance of upcoming elections, Ecology Ottawa launched its 2026 Municipal Elections Initiative in July this year, which is composed of several key elements: soliciting ecological ideas from the community, sharing a resulting list of suggested ecological planks that Ecology Ottawa encourages candidates to adopt; running an all-candidate environmental survey sent to mayoral candidates and candidates across all wards, with responses posted online; contributing to mayoral eco-debates held in collaboration with other Peoples' Official Plan members; and sharing basic voting information, like this blog post, shared on Ecology Ottawa's website and social media.
Elected Offices
Who will be on the ballot this Fall? You can use this tool to find out who is running to represent you and access their contact information and online platforms.
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Mayor- one is elected for each city. The mayor gets one vote at city council, and is responsible for leading the council, assigning and creating committees, proposing bylaws, directing city staff, providing direction at council meetings and representing the city at important events.
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City Councillor- one city councillor is elected for each of Ottawa’s 24 Wards, and they are responsible for representing their constituent’s interests at council meetings and committees, and creating and maintaining programs, procedures and bylaws.
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School Board Trustee- One trustee is elected for each zone of the 4 school boards that represent Ottawa and other surrounding municipalities. School board zones contain multiple municipal wards, and the amount of wards per zone varies depending on the board’s geographic coverage. You may only vote in one school board election, which is determined by which school board your property taxes support. In Ontario, the default school board your taxes and vote will support is the English Public board. You may vote for School Board Trustee even if you do not have children, or if your children are not currently attending public schools in Ontario.
On June 27, 2025, the Ministry of Education of Ontario took over governance of the OCDSB. This means that any decisions usually made by the school board are currently being made by Ontario’s Minister of Education and will be made until the provincial government decides to return that power to the school board.
Registering to Vote in Ontario
You do not need to be registered to vote in Ontario! If you are not registered, you can register at the polling location when you go to vote as long as you are currently living in the city you are voting in.
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Voter notification letters- are sent out the week of August 24 and will have info on how, when and where to vote. Please note: voter notification letters do not count as identification.
- Revision Period- allows you to change or update information on the voter list, such as your name, address or school registration over September 1–20 and you can do so here. You will be mailed a new voter notification letter with the updated information the week of September 21.
- After September 20, you can update your information at a poll location on whichever day you choose to vote.
If you did not receive a voter notification letter, don’t panic! You can still vote. You can double check that you are registered to vote or update your information here, find out where to vote here, or contact the City of Ottawa’s election office for assistance here.
Identification
You can use many different forms of identification to vote, as long as the ID was issued by a government agency of Canada (including federal, Ontario, an Ontario municipality or Band Council, or a recognized institution and contains your address and name (a photo is not necessary).
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Photo ID like Ontario driver’s license, health card or photo card
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Housing documents like mortgage papers, a rental lease, or property tax assessment
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Insurance policies or statements, bank account statements or loan agreements
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Income tax assessment, pension, or statement of benefits by a government agency
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Utility bills, or documents from your employer such as cheque stubs, T4s, or pay receipts
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Report cards or transcripts from a post-secondary school, campus residence
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Please note: passports and voter notification letters cannot be used as ID.
You can find a full list of acceptable IDs here. You can check here for more information about voting when you are unsure what to consider as your address.
Accessibility & Accomadations
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Advance polling locations are all accessible for mobility aids.
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All polling locations will have large print ballots, magnifying sheets, a list of candidates in Braille and a template for the ballot in Braille
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Election staff will have a cell phone you may use to have election call centre staff read their ballot to them over the phone
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Accessible vote tabulators are available at all locations on the special advance voting days, and certain locations on election day. These devices allow disabled people to vote independently and privately, featuring visual support on the screen (zoom and high contrast), a Braille keyboard, colour coded paddles, audio through headphones, and a sip-puff device.
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If you are unable to enter a voting location, you can request to vote curbside from a vehicle, outside the voting location, or another location within the building via a support person or by calling the Elections Office at (613)-580-2660 (TTY 613-580-2401)
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You can find more detail on accessible voting options here. To find out where accessible voting tabulators will be on advance voting day or election day, please contact the City of Ottawa Elections Office:
(613)-580-2660
(TTY 613-580-2401)
Voting!
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Voting by Mail: you can request a mail-in ballot by applying online, by email, mail or in person at the election office until September 15 at 4:30.
Mail ballots will be sent out the week of September 21.
Mail ballots must be returned to the elections office or a client service centre by 8 pm on October 16 for it to count
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Vote by proxy: you can appoint a proxy to vote on your behalf by completing forms and having them certified in person by city of Ottawa staff from September 1 to October 26 at 4:30 pm.
Find more info here or contact the elections office at 613-580-2660 or [email protected]
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Voting Early:
Special Advance Voting Days are Thursday October 1 to Sunday October 4, 10 am to 8 pm, and you may vote at any of these locations, regardless of your address:
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- CADELEREC Recreation Complex Goulbourn, 1500 Shea Rd
- Churchill Seniors Recreation Centre, 345 Richmond Rd
- City Hall, 110 Laurier Ave W
- Diane Deans Greensboro Community Centre, 363 Lorry Greenberg Dr
- Francois Dupuis Recreation Centre, 2263 Portobello Blvd
- Greey Community Centre, 1448 Meadow Dr
- Minto Recreation complex Barrhaven, 3500 Cambrian Rd
- Nepean Sportsplex, 1701 Woodroffe Ave
- Richcraft Recreation Complex Kanata, 4101 Innovation Dr
- St Laurent Complex, 525 Cote St
Advance Voting Day is Friday October 16, 10 am to 8 pm. You will vote at your assigned location if you choose to vote this day, and you can find out where here.
Election day!
Polls will be open on election day, Monday October 26, from 10 am to 8 pm. You can find out where your poll is here, and you must vote at your assigned poll.
If you have any questions, or if you’d like to learn more about our 2026 Municipal Elections Initiative, please visit this page. And if you found this information helpful, consider supporting our election work with a donation; please visit this page.
Thanks to our volunteer, Madison Welke, for putting this information together.
