Ontario snowbirds worry they won't be able to vote in Ford's snap election
Seniors heading abroad will likely be stuck voting by mail during winter election
When Patricia Williams heard Doug Ford hint an early election was in the wings, she wrote to the PC Leader with a plea: don't do it, because she's got a flight to catch.
Williams, like many retired seniors, is a snowbird. She said she and her husband have voted in every election they've had a chance to since they turned 18, but now they're trying to figure out how to get it done before their trip to Spain, Portugal and Italy in mid-February.
Williams said she's already come to grips with the fact that when she does cast a ballot, it will be with incomplete information. Most of the parties haven't released much actual policy at this point, and Williams is worried most about the province's economy and health-care system — not exactly simple issues.
"I don't want to be casting my vote on the way to the airport," she said.
"Having an election called with such little time, in what could be an economic tsunami for this province and for the country, just helps to reinforce in the minds of people the skepticism that they have about government. And I'm concerned about that."
Williams wrote to CBC News asking how Ontario snowbirds will be able to vote in this snap election, which is set for Feb. 27. Elections Ontario is also scrambling, but said this week its goal is making sure all 10.8 million electors have a chance to vote and is already letting snowbirds who haven't left the province yet cast a special ballot at their local election office.
- Elections Ontario has launched its website for voters to register. You can find it here
It will be a challenge, though, and this election follows a 2022 contest that saw just 43 per cent voter turnout.
Seniors are typically a group that does vote, but a 2021 article in the journal CMAJ Open estimated upwards of 53,000 in this province travel to warmer climes in the winter months.
- Do you have a good question about the Ontario election? Email us at Ask@cbc.ca and we'll try to get you the answer.
What we know about how snowbirds will vote
Snowbirds who are still in the province can head to a local election office — you can find your site here — to request a special ballot. However, candidates have until Feb. 13 to enter the race, so some voters wouldn't have a complete picture of who their MPP options might be.
"Voters can vote every day, from now through the day before election day, at their local election office," Elections Ontario confirmed in an email to CBC News.
You cannot vote online in Ontario elections.
That means most snowbirds who have already left home will have to vote by mail.
To do that, according to Elections Ontario, they'll have to apply to mail in their vote before 6 p.m. on Feb. 21. Elections Ontario will then mail them a voting kit, which must be filled out and sent back by 6 p.m. on Feb. 27 to be counted.
Hamilton's Norma DiGiandomenico said she's filed her application with Elections Ontario, but is worried she still might not be able to vote. She and her husband, lifelong voters now in their 70s, are on a cruise en route to their winter home in Texas and won't be back until March.
Mail at the best of times, she figures, takes weeks (though one can track the status of a voting kit).
"I don't even know if we're going to get it in time," she said.
DiGiandomenico said she wasn't pleased with Ford's snap election call.
"I thought he was supposed to do it in June. We would have been home," she said, noting she's one of those people who believes if you don't vote, you're not allowed to complain about who's in office.
Opposition parties hearing from concerned seniors
Ford has defended his election call, saying the PCs, who already hold a majority at Queen's Park, need a fresh mandate to potentially spend billions if U.S. President Donald Trump hits Canada with tariffs on Saturday. The opposition parties have been united in calling the election unnecessary, but have all launched campaigns to defeat Ford.
WATCH | Queen's Park reporter Shawn Jeffords explains why Ford's opponents are fuming about his mid-election trips to Washington:
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said Friday her team fielded a call from a concerned snowbird yesterday, and went on to blast Ford for not thinking about the pitfalls of triggering what she called "an unnecessary, very expensive election."
Crombie said she'll be looking to Elections Ontario to do more to address the issue.
Travelling seniors, she said, "want to have that opportunity to vote."
Cecilia Stuart, press secretary for the Green Party, said they've heard from a number of voters who are out of the province.
"Folks are worried about the tight timeline and their ability to have their voice heard," she said in an email.
"Ontario should be focused on making it easier to vote, not harder."
Shorter advance voting window
There's another change that will affect snowbirds as well as those who like to vote early to avoid election day lines.
Greg Essensa, Elections Ontario's chief electoral officer, confirmed this week that the advance voting period will be shorter — three days, instead of 10 — due to the early election call.
Essensa said there are also plans in the works to deal with bad winter weather.
"We have contingency plans in place," he told reporters at Queen's Park, though he declined to outline exactly what would happen should a blizzard hit on election day.
That bad weather is what Williams is escaping.
"In Ottawa, the weather's always a problem in the winter time," she said.
For now, she's seeking out as much information as she can about the parties, but said her vote will be a bit of a leap of faith. She's hopeful the voting process for her, and thousands of others like her, works out.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Lorenda Reddekopp