Am I eligible to vote?

How do I know if I can vote?

A person is entitled to vote in the October 25th election in Ottawa, if on voting day he or she is:

• a Canadian citizen;
• at least 18 years old;
• residing in Ottawa or an owner or tenant of land there, or the spouse of such owner or tenant; and
• not otherwise prohibited from voting.

Ineligible Voters 

The following people cannot vote in the Ottawa election: 

• a person serving a sentence of imprisonment in a penal or correctional institution;
• a corporation; or
• a person convicted of a corrupt practice for an election held within four years of voting day. 

A person who is acting as an executor or in any other representative capacity (e.g. power of attorney), cannot vote on behalf of the person they are representing unless they have been appointed as a voting proxy. 

How many votes do I get?

A voter is only entitled to vote once in Ottawa even if the voter has more than one qualifying property address within the municipality.  The place where they vote is where they reside. 

In Ottawa, where we use the ward system, if a voter resides in one ward, but has other properties in different wards in the city, he or she may only vote in the ward where he or she resides.  A voter may only have one permanent residence.

Students

A student may vote in Ottawa, even if he or she is temporarily residing here while attending school as well as at his or her permanent home in a different municipality, provided that he or she does not intend to change his or her permanent  home.

Homeless Persons

If a person has no permanent residence, then the following rules determine his or her residence:

1. The place in which the person most frequently returned to sleep or eat during the five weeks preceding the determination.
2. If the person returns with equal frequency to one place to sleep and another to eat, the place in which he or she sleeps.
3. Multiple returns to the same place during a single day, to eat or sleep, are considered to be one return.

A person's affidavit regarding the places to which he or she returned to eat or sleep during a given time period is conclusive, in the absence of evidence to the contrary.