A council committee is recommending a completely online municipal election in 2026.
Council heard Tuesday night the option offers the lowest cost.
“Electronic-only voting would be approximately $150,000,” says Karen McIsaac, city clerk.
She says an in-person vote with paper ballots would cost an estimated $300,000 while a hybrid election, with both options, would be approximately $350,000.
Along with about ten days of online-only advance voting, there would be a super poll set up on election day.
“It’ll be essentially an online election, but you’ll come to Memorial Gardens, for example, and you can vote by way of a computer and not a paper ballot.”
Along with computers set up for people to vote, staff will also be there to assist, if needed.
McIsaac’s report to council says 70 per cent of the vote was online in the 2022 election, with the remaining 30 per cent in-person.
That hybrid election cost just under a quarter of a million dollars.
The highest costs included renting vote tabulators together with accessible ballot markers, paper ballots along with over 110 advance poll and election day staff needed to run the paper option.
The next municipal election will be held Monday, Oct. 26, 2026.
