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Mono voters will mark municipal election ballots online in 2026

October 9, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

There can be few procedural excuses for Mono residents not to vote in the municipal election next year.

Residents will be able to use online voting in the October 2026 political contest.

Mono council authorized alternative voting methods last fall for municipal and school board elections. Those alternate methods included telephone and internet voting.

Council also directed staff to ink an agreement with Intelivote Systems Inc. to provide services for both Internet and telephone voting.

Intelivote was utilized by the town for the 2018 and 2022 municipal elections.

Mono is among seven of eight Dufferin County municipalities to sign on with Intelivote Systems for next year’s election.

While each municipality is entering into separate contracts, Intelivote has provided pricing based on the combined total number of electors in seven of the county’s eight municipalities. The cost is broken down into two elements: e-vote services per elector and voter letter and postage.

The cost of preparing and delivering the voter letter has increased from the 2022 election. The e-vote, however, has gone down.

The increase in preparing and mailing the voter letter is indicative of postal rates having gone up. It cost $0.92 to send a letter in 2022. Today, that same letter costs $1.24.

The fees will be based on the number of eligible electors on Oct. 26, 2026.

There were 7,472 eligible electors during the 2022 election. Staff does not anticipate a significant change in the number of eligible electors for the 2026 election. Based on 7,472 eligible electors, the fees for Intelivote’s services are estimated at $22,416 plus HST.

Councillor Melinda Davie said the ease with which online voting will enable eligible residents to mark a ballot should draw more people to the process. There should be little reason for the last election’s low 25 per cent voter turnout to occur again.

“Seven municipalities have embraced it now,” Davie said of Mono’s county counterparts. “Last time, we were almost the only ones, I think. With a two-week window to vote, when the voting comes around there’s really no excuse. I would like to see more than 25 per cent of people vote when the vote comes around on Oct. 29, 2026.”

Fred Simpson said there would be a voting period greater than a single day.

“The last couple of times, it was 10 days (to cast a ballot),” Simpson said. “The window hasn’t yet been set, but it will be similar.”

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