The
October 10th Election & Referendum
September
20, 2007
updated October 3, 2007
page contents
Your Amount Of Time To Vote …First-Past-The-Post (FPTP)
You may vote if, on Election Day, you are:
- 18 years of age or older
- A Canadian citizen
- A resident of the electoral district in Ontario
If
you fit these requirements, you should get a Notice of Registration card
in the mail before the Election. If you haven’t, you may not be on the Voters
List. To ensure you are on the list, call Elections
Ontario toll-free at
1-800-677-8683.
As a democracy, every citizen of Canada has a say in the selection of their leadership. The Ontario Elections Act ensures this. Your employer must allow you time to vote if you don’t have your own time during voting hours. Everyone is entitled to three consecutive hours to vote.
- Must be requested by the employee,
- Must be at a convenient time to the employer, and,
- Once requested by the employee, must be allowed by the employer
Ontario’s Elections Act also has alternative methods of voting for those who read at a lower level. After taking an oath to verify their inability to vote in the standard manner, voters may choose to have a substitute voter fill out their ballet. They may choose to have:
- A deputy returning officer: He or she will check the voter’s choice on the ballot privately and drop it in the ballot box.
- A friend: A friend, spouse, sibling or even a tutor of the voter may fill out the voter’s ballot after taking an oath, promising never to share the contents of the ballot.
This
election, citizens will also vote on a referendum.
What
is a Referendum?
A
referendum is a direct vote. Voters are asked to answer a question regarding a
particular government proposal.
Voters will get two ballots. One is for choosing a candidate in the general election. The other is to choose your decision on the referendum question about keeping or changing the way we elect members of the provincial government (see below).
For more information
and a brief video explaining the two choices, click on “Billy Ballot”
at www.citizenassembly.gov.on.ca
The system currently used:
- Ontario
is divided into electoral districts
- Instead
of voting directly for the premier, citizens vote for the political party
by voting for the candidate representing that party in their district
- The
person with the most votes, even if it isn't the majority, wins that district's
seat
- The party whose candidates won the most seats wins the election and the leader becomes Ontario's premier
- Combines
proportional representation with first-past-the-post
-
Each voter has two votes; one for the party of their choice, and
one for the candidate in their district of choice
-
The party vote determines how many seats each party gets. The candidate vote determines
who wins the local riding seat, similar to today's elections except that the voter
will now be able to vote for a local candidate of a different party without hurting
the number of seats his or her party wins
- Parties must win three percent of the vote to be eligible for seats
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