Sault looks at voting ‘superstations’ in next municipal election

You may have to travel farther to cast your ballot in the 2026 municipal election than you did last year.

City clerk Rachel Tyczinski, who runs Sault Ste. Marie's local elections, is thinking of using more 'superstations' like GFL Memorial Gardens after having difficulties securing polling locations in the Oct. 24, 2022, election.

"it certainly is a challenge to find the locations," Tyczinski told this week's city council meeting.

"I think in 2026 we may consider some superstations at city facilities," Tyczinski said.

A small-scale trial was run at GFL Memorial Gardens in 2022.

"We didn't have a whole lot of electors going there because we wanted to assess it in terms of accessibility and so on."

"I think in 2026 we may be able to use more municipal facilities, to have larger areas."

"There may be more travel time, but more focused areas."

The following are excerpts from Tyczinski's report to Mayor Shoemaker and city councillors:

Background

In 2018, city council requested the city clerk's office to provide recommendations to improve voter turnout for the 2022 municipal election, potentially including a municipal advertising campaign encouraging electors to vote.

In 2021, city council approved conducting the municipal election by in-person voting with tabulator count as well as a 'register to vote by mail' option.

There was a 40.3 per cent voter turnout in the 2018 municipal election.

Voter engagement

The corporate communications team conducted an extensive campaign during the months leading up to the election.

The campaign included social media posts, traditional news releases, print ads, radio ads, mail-outs to areas with traditional low voter turn-out, advertising on transit, video advertising at city facilities (i.e. GFL scoreboard, poster advertising across the city, and billboard advertising).

The city clerk's office maintained a presence at many community events over the summer and fall. Staff attended candidate meet-and-greets and debates with information regarding voter identification requirements, voting locations, and alternative ways to vote.

Voter turnout

It was anticipated that voter turnout would increase in 2022 due to the voter engagement campaign, the fact that there was a mayoral race with no incumbent, and the availability of additional alternative options.

Nevertheless, voter turnout for the 2022 municipal election was 37.94 per cent compared to 40.3 per cent in 2018. The average voter turnout in Ontario was 36.3 per cent, down from 38 per cent in 2018.

Accessibility

City clerk's staff collaborated with the Sault Ste. Marie accessibility advisory committee regarding matters such as alternative voting options, accessible customer service and assistive devices.

The Canadian National Institute for the Blind and the Canadian Hearing Association were also consulted as to how best to assist individuals with visual impairments/blindness and the deaf/hearing impaired community.

Consultations took place as to accessibility of the ballot design, accessible customer service training, accessible vote tabulator, and voting locations.

The city made voting accessible by:

• welcoming the use of support persons and service animals in voting places
• providing assistance to electors with disabilities upon request
• permitting voting by proxy in cases where an elector was unable to attend a voting location
• providing curbside voting to electors who were unable to go inside a voting location
• register to vote-by-mail was introduced as an alternative voting method for the first time in 2022. 697 registrations for vote-by-mail kits were approved, with 512 completed kits returned
• a vote-from-home program was again offered for electors unable to attend a voting location without unreasonable difficulty. Eligible electors were required to register in advance and an election team brought a ballot to the elector at home. 83 electors voted from home in 2022
• enhanced voting options were made available in institutions and retirement homes. Eligible residents could complete a vote-by-mail kit prior to voting day at their residence. Election staff also attended institutions and retirement homes to assist residents as required
• for the first time, an accessible vote tabulator was made available on advanced vote days. The accessible vote tabulator allowed electors with disabilities to vote privately and independently using a ballot marker device. The elector was provided with a hand-held device (or paddle or sip-and-puff device) and a set of headphones to navigate through an audio version of the ballot
• supplies to assist voters with disabilities were available at all voting locations, including: magnifying glasses and sheets, large marking implements, note pads and pens; and large print candidate lists
• all election staff received accessible customer service training.

Challenges

The quality of the voters list continued to be a challenge in 2022. Many of the corrections requested in 2018 had been reversed and there continued to be a significant number of electors appearing more than once on the voters list.

Another continuing problem was the number of deceased electors appearing on the voters list. The quality of the voter notification cards resulted in elector frustration with voter notification cards as the information on the cards is generated from the voters list. With Elections Ontario taking over production of the voters list in 2023, it is hoped that the 2026 voters list will be more accurate.

Voting day staffing continued to present challenges for the 2022 election. While fewer staff were required due to the use of tabulators, it was still a challenge to recruit sufficient capable staff. A wave of sickness in the community also impacted availability of voting day staff.

Successes

The use of tabulators to count ballots was extremely efficient, with tabulators being returned from the field before 9:30 p.m. The accessible vote tabulator on advance vote days was also a positive addition.

An electronic voters list was used for the first time in 2022. Although the system did slow across the province during heavy voting periods, the electronic list allowed faster processing of electors at voting locations.

An online candidate portal was made available to allow candidates to access documents and forms, including the electronic voters list. 

The City of Sault Ste. Marie has been accepted into a community-based project on municipal election security being conducted by election security experts Dr. Nicole Goodman (Brock University) and Dr. Aleks Essex (University of Western Ontario). A custom report will be provided regarding our election security, as well as a general report for all types of technologies.