Information for Voters

• 1. Confirm you're eligible to vote

  To vote you must be:

  • A Canadian Citizen
  • 18 years of age or older as of October 24, 2022
  • A Barrie resident
  • A Barrie property owner/tenant or spouse of Barrie property owner or tenant
  • Not prohibited from voting by law

  Only one vote may be cast in a municipality no matter how many voting days there are or how many properties you own or rent.

• 2. Review the list of candidates

  Offices you're voting for:

  • Mayor
  • Councillor
    Not sure what ward you live in? Look up your address or call 705-739-4220 to inquire.
  • School Board Trustee
     

  View Candidates List

• 3. Ensure your name is on the voters’ list & information is correct

  There are three ways to check to see if you are on the voter's list, and/or add yourself to the voters' list:

  • Email Be.Counted@barrie.ca.
  • Call the Be Counted phone line at 705-728-VOTE (8683).
  • Visit a Voting Assistance Centre.

  Access to the online Voter Lookup and Registration Portal closed at 5pm on October 24, to help ensure staff have enough time to process new registrations. The above methods remain available. 

  Acceptable identification showing your name and qualifying address is required to add yourself to the voters' list.

  View List of Acceptable Voter Identification

• 4. Have your voting PIN ready

  A voter information letter containing your voting PIN and voting information was mailed to people on the voters' list in the first week of October 2022.

  Do not open a Voter Information Letter that’s not addressed to you – it’s illegal to take, open or tamper with mail that’s addressed to another person. If you receive a Voter Information Letter for someone does not live at your address, don’t open or forward it. Instead, mark the envelope ‘Return to Sender’ and drop it in the mail, so it will be returned to the City's Election Office.
  
  Your voting PIN is required to access and submit your ballot in the municipal election. 

  Call 705-728-8683 (VOTE) or email Be.Counted@barrie.ca immediately if you lose your PIN (the old PIN will be deactivated).

  If you did not receive or have misplaced your Voter Information Letter, you can obtain your PIN by visiting:

  • City Hall (Clerk’s office, first floor) during regular business hours (8:30am to 4:30pm, Monday to Friday) and providing acceptable voter identification
  • a Vote Bus on October 15, 17, or 18 and providing acceptable voter identification
  • the City Hall Voting Assistance Centre between October 15 and 24 and providing acceptable voter identification 
  • any Voting Assistance Centre on October 20, 21, 22, or 24 and providing acceptable voter identification 

  Please call 705-728-VOTE (8683) or email Be.Counted@barrie.ca with any questions about your PIN.

• 5. Vote online or by phone between October 14 & 24, 2022

  The City of Barrie is making voting easy, accessible, and convenient. Internet and telephone are the only voting methods for Barrie's 2022 Municipal Election.

  A candidate cannot assist a voter in the voting process. If you require assistance please call 705-728-8683 (VOTE), email Be.Counted@barrie.ca, visit a Voting Assistance Centre, or visit a Vote Bus.

  To vote online:

  • Visit the web address provided on your voter information letter
    The secure webpage indicated on the Voter Information Letter needs to be entered into the browser; it cannot be looked up through Google or other search engines.
  • Enter your voting PIN and required credentials
    Do no include spaces in your PIN.
  • Vote!
     

  To vote by phone:

  • Call the phone number provided on your Voter Information Letter
  • Enter your voting PIN and required credentials
  • Listen to the Statement of Eligibility and follow the prompts to confirm your selection
  • Vote by following the prompts, making your selections and confirming by pressing the # (pound) key
     

  In-person assistance options:

  • The City Hall Voting Assistance Centre is open October 15–24
  • City-wide Voting Assistance Centres are open October 20, 21, 22, or 24
      

  Breakdown of Voting Days Vote online or by phone between October 14 & 24, 2022
  Friday, October 14	Voting Period commences at 10am
  Saturday, October 15 to Sunday, October 23	Advance Voting assistance is available at City Hall Voting Assistance Centre
  Saturday, October 15	Advance Voting assistance is available on the Voting Bus
  Monday, October 17	Advance Voting assistance is available on the Voting Bus
  Tuesday, October 18	Advance Voting assistance is available on the Voting Bus
  Thursday, October 20 to Saturday, October 22	Advance Voting assistance is available at all Voting Assistance Centres
  Monday, October 24	Final Voting Day – closes at 8pm. All Voting Assistance Centres are open 10am–8pm

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who am I voting for?

  Eligible electors in City of Barrie will be voting for the offices of Mayor, one City Councillor and one School Board Trustee.

  View the Candidate Listing.

  You may only vote ONCE in the City of Barrie Municipal Election regardless of how many properties you own or rent within the city. Non-resident voters who own or rent non-residential property are only permitted to vote for Mayor and Ward Councillor.

  Mayor

  The Mayor is elected at large by all electors.

  Councillor

  Councillors are elected by the eligible voters of each ward – one Councillor for each of Barrie’s 10 wards. 

  School Board Trustee

  School Board Trustees are elected by areas, which include one or more City wards for the English School Boards. The board you are entitled to vote for is determined by your school support status, as shown on the voters' list.

  Electors may only vote once for their school board trustee, even if they own more than one property in more than one municipality that is within the jurisdiction of the school board.

  The school boards that have jurisdiction in the City of Barrie are:

  • Simcoe County District School Board
  • Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (Note: You must be Roman Catholic to vote for this school board.
  • Conseil scolaire Viamonde (Note: you must have French language rights to vote for this school board)
  • Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir (Note: you must be Roman Catholic and have French language rights to vote for this school board.

   

• What ward​ do I live in?

  To find out what ward you live in, check the Ward Map​ on the City GIS Site or call 705-739-4220 and City staff can look up your address.

• How is the voters' list prepared?

  The voters' list is prepared in three steps:

  1. A preliminary list is created by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) based on data it keeps on home ownership and tenancy.
  2. The preliminary list is sent to the municipal clerk in advance of a regular election which occurs every 4 years or by-election. The clerk can correct any errors on the list, and the corrected list then becomes the voters' list.
  3. Changes can be made to the list. If you are not on the voters' list, or if your information is incorrect (for example, you have moved and may be listed at a former address), you may apply to have your name added or your information corrected. This may be done until the close of voting on the final day of voting. You may have your name added to the voters' list at a Voting Assistance Centre or Vote Bus. You may be asked to show identification. For more information about getting on the voters' list, please call 705-728-VOTE (8683) or email Be.Counted@barrie.ca.
• I have voted in previous municipal elections and I live in Barrie. Should I still check to see if my name is on the 2022 Municipal Election voters' list?

  Yes. It is recommended that you check to ensure you're on the voters' list for each and every Municipal Election.

  The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is responsible for preparing the preliminary list of electors used for municipal and school board elections in Ontario. We provided all of the information from the completed application forms in the 2018 Municipal Election to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation for inclusion in the voters' list. However, from time to time, the voters' list may include errors which require correction.

• What do I do if I receive a Voting Information Letter that's not addressed to my name?

  Do not open a Voter Information Letter that’s not addressed to you – it’s illegal to take, open or tamper with mail that’s addressed to another person.

  If you receive a Voter Information Letter for someone who doesn’t live at your address anymore, don’t open or forward it. Instead, mark the envelope ‘Return to Sender’ and drop it in the mail, so it will be returned to the City's Election Office.

• What do I do if I don’t have a PIN?

  Call 705-728-8683 (VOTE) or email Be.Counted@barrie.ca immediately if you lose your PIN (the old PIN will be deactivated).

  If you did not receive or have misplaced your voter information letter, you can obtain your PIN by visiting:

  • a Vote Bus on October 15, 17, or 18 and providing acceptable voter identification
  • any Voting Assistance Centre on October 20, 21, 22, or 24 and providing acceptable voter identification
  • the City Hall Voting Assistance Centre and providing acceptable voter identification. The City Hall Voting Assistance Centre is open:
     

    Saturday, October 15	9am–1pm
    Sunday, October 16	10am–6pm
    Monday, October 17	8:30am–4:30pm
    Tuesday, October 18	8:30am–4:30pm
    Wednesday, October 19	8:30am–4:30pm
    Thursday, October 20	8:30am–8pm
    Friday, October 21	8:30am–8pm
    Saturday, October 22	9am–5pm
    Sunday, October 23	10am–8pm
    Monday, October 24 – Final Voting Day	10am–8pm

    Please call 705-728-8683 (VOTE) or email Be.Counted@barrie.ca with any questions.
• Do I need to bring my voter information letter to an in-person voting location?

  You can vote by internet or phone from any location by following the instructions contained in the voter information letter. If you’d like assistance with casting your ballot, please attend a Voting Assistance Centre or Vote Bus and bring your voting information letter with you.

  If you do not bring your voting information letter to the Voting Assistance Centre or Vote Bus, you will need to present acceptable voter identification to obtain your PIN.

• What type of assistance is available to the visually impaired?

  The size of the text on ballots on the City of Barrie’s voting equipment is larger than a normal ballot. In addition, an elector can also request an “audio ballot.” The elector will utilize a set of headphones to follow the audio prompts to select their candidate(s) either by touching the screen next to the candidate’s name or by using the Braille-embossed navigation buttons located below the screen.

• Is internet and telephone voting secure?

  The voting for Barrie's 2022 Municipal Election will be conducted by an internet and telephone voting system to provide emergency preparedness, efficiency, accessibility, accuracy, automatic tabulation, and convenience. The internet and telephone voting method was used by Ward 3 residents for the Ward 3 By-election in 2020. This voting method provided a successful by-election and voter turnout. 

  Staff have worked with the Internet Voting Provider to ensure technical related security measures, procedures and processes are designed to support system administration and control user access to address potential risks. Technical protective measures such as firewalling, user authentication techniques, failover connectivity and server redundancy, all decrease the likelihood and effectiveness of these threats. Staff have conducted testing of the software, and have an external auditor performing audits throughout the various implementation phases of the voting process which adds another layer to ensure protection of the voting system.