Joyce Stankiewicz of Waterloo, Ont., is a longtime supporter of the Progressive Conservatives and has even volunteered on campaigns in Waterloo Region, but in this provincial election, she's mulling whether she'll decline her ballot.

Stankiewicz says she declined her ballot in the last provincial election in 2018, because she didn't like how the Progressive Conservatives ousted former Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris from the party just before the election and brought in another candidate named Mike Harris Jr., son of former premier Mike Harris.

"If you go to the polls and refuse your ballot, they have to count it," she said in a recent interview.

Stankiewicz is far from alone. In 2014, the number of declined ballots in the Ontario election jumped, and that was seen locally as well.

The graph below shows the increase in declined ballots in four elections in Waterloo Region except for the riding of Kitchener South-Hespeler, which was only created in 2018.

It may have been thanks to an online campaign launched that year called Decline Your Vote, spearheaded by Windsor politician Paul Synnott.

He told CBC News in 2014 that declining a ballot sends a message to politicians: "Hey, I'm here, my vote was available, but I don't think any of you deserve it."

Elections Ontario's post-election report in 2014 noted that more voters declined their ballot that year than in any other Ontario election since 1975. In 2014, when Kathleen Wynne led the Liberals to a majority, 29,937 ballots were formally declined. Four years later, that number dropped to 22,684.

"A declined ballot is not the same as a rejected ballot, a process by which the deputy returning officer rejects the ballot for not being clearly marked. And it is not the same as failing to mark a ballot. The declined ballot declares an intention not to vote and thus cannot be misconstrued as a failure to adhere to ballot marking rules," the 2014 report said.

Under the province's Election Act, a voter can decline a ballot by telling the deputy returning officer at the poll "that they are choosing to decline the vote or by simply handing the ballot back to them," Elections Ontario said.

"The elector must do so publicly — under legislation, there is no secrecy associated with the action. Once a ballot has been declined, the deputy returning officer writes 'declined' on the ballot and the poll clerk records it in the poll record that a ballot was officially declined."

Stankiewicz said this year, she's upset with some of the decisions made by the Tory government over the last four years. Most recently, she disagreed with the government's decision to issue refunds on licence plate stickers.

"The money that was raised for licence plates was supposed to be to improve our roads, and then he gives billions back," she said, referring to PC Leader Doug Ford. "I mean, that's ridiculous when our roads are in the condition they are."

She said that in 2018, some people in her riding told her they voted for the Green Party "knowing they wouldn't get in but just as a protest vote."

Stankiewicz said not voting doesn't have the same impact as declining a ballot.

"To stay home, that doesn't accomplish anything but statistics," she said.