No voter card yet? Elections Ontario says they're in the mail

With 10 days to go until the Ontario election, voters are taking to social media to complain that they haven't received their voter information cards.

While voters can still cast a ballot without the card, they just need a piece of identification that contains their current address – the cards make it easy for voters to know where they can take advantage of advance voting, and the location of their polling station.

Asked about voters' concerns, a spokesperson for Elections Ontario said voter information cards have been mailed to some 9.8 million registered electors. However, they were sent out between May 17 and 25, according to Cara Des Granges.

"It's not uncommon for you not to have received it yet," Des Granges told CBC Toronto in a telephone interview. "You should be receiving it shortly."

Information about polling stations, for either advance voting or on election day, can be found by entering a postal code at Elections Ontario's website.

Toronto resident Ken Lister has received voting cards without issue for years, and likes to take advantage of advance polling. As of Monday, he had yet to receive his card and feared he had missed some advance voting opportunities.

While that won't stop him from voting, even if he has to wait until June 7, he fears others who rely on their card to obtain voting information, or who prefer to cast a ballot in advance polls, may end up not voting at all.

"I think a lot of voters who would have considered advance voting won't get this until too late and will go, 'Well, I guess I missed it,'" Lister told CBC Toronto. "And I'm worried that it will affect voter turnout."

Lister, himself a candidate for city council in this fall's municipal election, said he has lived at the same address through numerous elections, and has never received his card late. But he and his wife both don't have their cards, and friends who live in his riding also haven't received them.

Twitter users have also been tweeting at Elections Ontario, asking about the delay.

According to Des Granges, voter cards were sent out between May 27 and 30 for the June 12 election back in 2014. While the mail-out period was shorter, that's about the same amount of time ahead of election day compared to this year.

Lister said he will be curious to see whether voter turnout is impacted in this election and, if so, if it will be traced back to late-arriving cards.

"Certainly if it comes out that the voting totals on the advance voting days is substantially lower than it should have been, then there's a large cause for concern," he said.

For voters who prefer getting their cards, Des Granges has one piece of advice beyond just showing up at the polls with ID.

"Keep an eye on those mailboxes."

More on the Ontario election:

• The Campaigner
• Poll Tracker: Follow the latest developments here