Site Menu4. Voting Services – Report on the 2022 By-election
Electors can cast their ballot at their assigned advance polling station during one of the four designated days, at their assigned polling station on election day, by special ballot at an Elections Canada office or by mail. Other voting methods are also available, such as those for residents of long-term care facilities and seniors' residences and for incarcerated electors.
Text version of "Ways to Vote"
This diagram illustrates the various options that electors could use to vote in the Mississauga–Lakeshore by-election:
- Vote at the local Elections Canada office
- Vote at your assigned polling station on election day or advance polling days
- Vote by special ballot
Polling places
For the by-election in Mississauga–Lakeshore, the returning officer established 15 polling stations at six polling places for the advance polls and 206 polling stations at 47 polling places on election day. Eleven mobile polling stations each visited one establishment.
As part of its environmental scanning, Elections Canada identified the potential for a strike by Ontario education workers that were part of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. As a result, the agency secured alternative polling places in lieu of the schools that could potentially be impacted by this action. Given that the returning officer was not able to rent many of the locations typically used as polling places and the difficulty in securing new locations, the electoral district had three fewer polling places and polling stations than were available in the 44th general election. Some of the polling places were also suboptimal due to their location or layout. In spite of this, 100% of the 60 polling places used met all 15 mandatory accessibility criteria.
Voting
Safe voting services
Health and safety information was developed in collaboration with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Peel Public Health. Elections Canada followed all provincial and local public health guidelines in Mississauga–Lakeshore and put in place numerous measures to protect electors, election workers and political participants. These measures included:
- Making face masks, gloves, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes available.
- Requiring election workers to wear face masks in accordance with federal workplace occupational health guidance. Voters and candidate representatives were not required to wear face masks.
- Assigning only one poll worker per desk and supplying plexiglass barriers.
- Using floor markers and signage to encourage physical distancing.
- Frequently disinfecting workstations.
- Providing single-use pencils to electors.
Voting at assigned advance and election day polling places
In Mississauga–Lakeshore, the majority of voters (more than 59%) chose to cast their ballot at their polling station on election day. Approximately 36% footnote 9 voted at the advance polls. These turnout numbers help confirm a continuing upward trend of electors choosing to vote in advance of election day.
Voting by special ballot (by mail or at a local Elections Canada office)
Under the Special Voting Rules provisions of the Canada Elections Act,footnote x electors who are in their electoral district during an election can also vote by special ballot by mail or in person at any Elections Canada office. Canadians temporarily outside their electoral district or living abroad can apply online for a special ballot voting kit to be mailed to them.
For every by-election, Elections Canada communicates with its partners in the Canadian Armed Forces, at Correctional Service Canada and at Global Affairs Canada to disseminate information and registration materials to Canadian Forces electors, incarcerated electors and electors residing outside Canada whose address of ordinary residence is in the electoral district.
In the 2022 by-election in Mississauga–Lakeshore, a total of 1,051 electors voted by special ballot. This represents 4.2% of the electors who voted, compared with 6.8% in the 44th general election and 2.6% in the Toronto Centre and York Centre by-elections held in 2020.
The table below breaks down the vote by category.
| Ballots at election day polls | Ballots at advance polls | Voting by special ballot (SVR) | Total valid ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total ballots cast |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14,752 | 9,018 | 1,044 | 24,814 | 135 | 24,949 |
The table below breaks down special ballot voting.
Special Voting Rules ballots cast
| Ballots issued (Mail) | Ballots issued (In person) | Valid ballots | Rejected ballots | Ballots cast | Late ballots | Ballots returned1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 (international, incarcerated and national2) | 225 | 0 | 84 | 0 | 84 | 37 | 37.3% |
| Group 2 (local3) | 425 | 610 | 960 | 7 | 967 | 5 | 93.4% |
| Total | 650 | 610 | 1,044 | 7 | 1,051 | 42footnote 10 | 83.4% |
| Ballots issued (Mail) | Ballots issued (In person) | Valid ballots | Rejected ballots | Ballots cast | Late ballots4 | Ballots returned1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 (international, incarcerated and national2) | 1,135 | 0 | 672 | 3 | 675 | 189 | 59.5% |
| Group 2 (local3) | 2,861 | 1,358 | 3,294 | 231 | 3,525 | 455 | 83.6% |
| Total | 3,996 | 1,358 | 3,966 | 234 | 4,200 | 644 | 78.5% |
1 Total ballots cast divided by ballots issued.
2 Electors whose applications were processed and whose ballots were counted at Elections Canada headquarters in Ottawa.
3 Electors whose applications were processed and whose ballots were counted at the local Elections Canada office. This includes electors who registered to vote in acute care facilities.
4 Totals as of February 15, 2022.
Voter turnout
For the 2022 by-election, 24,949 registered electors voted in Mississauga–Lakeshore. The turnout rate for the Mississauga–Lakeshore by-election was generally in line with other by-elections. The average turnout for all by-elections since 2016 is approximately 30.7%.
The table below shows turnout and compares turnout rates with those for the 44th general election.
| Election | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 general election | 2022 by-election | ||
| Ballots cast | Turnout | Ballots cast | Turnout |
| 56,783 | 63.8% | 24,949 | 27.8% |
An estimated 27.8% of eligible electors voted during the Mississauga–Lakeshore by-election compared with 29% for the federal by-elections held in 2020.
Footnotes
Return to footnote 9 In the previous by-elections of 2020, approximately 33% voted at the advance polls in Toronto Centre (Ontario) and York Centre (Ontario).
Return to footnote 10 In an early version of this report, the Special Voting Rules ballot cast table contained an error that has since been corrected. Copies of the report that were downloaded or printed before the correction was made will show an inaccurate total.
Return to source of footnote x Canada Elections Act, https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/e-2.01/index.html