The Town of The Blue Mountains will hold a municipal election in 2026, but the method voters will use to cast their ballots remains up in the air.
At a committee whole meeting on Jan. 13, council did not make a decision on the voting method for the 2026 municipal election and instead sent town staff back to the drawing board to bring more information about potential voting methods.
Town staff delivered a report at the meeting recommending that the town use internet and telephone voting for the third straight election. However, council refused to support the recommendation and instead turned the report back to staff asking for full cost estimates on vote-by-mail and the traditional method of coming to a polling station to mark a paper ballot.
The issue divided council and set off a discussion/debate that stretched close to an hour.
The staff recommendation to continue using internet and phone voting was defeated in a 4-3 vote with just Mayor Andrea Matrosovs, Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon and Coun. Shawn McKinlay in favour.
Opinions diverged around the council table.
Coun. Alex Maxwell said he preferred the traditional, go-to-the-polls, style of voting.
“A lot of people still like to have a piece of paper in their hand,” said Maxwell.
Coun. June Porter suggested the town consider combining voting methods and asked if it was possible to continue with internet and phone voting, while adding a paper ballot option.
“I don’t think we’ll have thousands of people lining up,” Porter said if a paper ballot was added.
Bordignon asked if the town had received many requests for a paper ballot during the last election in 2022. Clerk Corrina Giles said if there were such requests, there were very few of them.
Staff recommended continuing with online/telephone voting because the system is easy to use for voters and offers out-of-town residents the best and easiest opportunity to vote. In 2022, the town used the system and had just over 29 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots. However, in the 2018 election, the same system was used and more than 39 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots.
Under the telephone/internet system, voters receive their voter information in the mail and are then able to go online or use the phone to vote during a 10-day period leading up to election day. Voters can vote from anywhere in the world, 24 hours per day.
In 2022, the town also set up a help centre in the council chambers for anybody who wanted to attend town hall to cast their ballot or for those who required assistance or did not have access to the internet.
After a lengthy discussion, council voted to request more information about costing options for traditional ballots, vote-by-mail and internet/telephone voting.
