It’s Ontario’s municipal election day, and voters are set to vote in communities across the state.
Polling in Toronto and other major cities begins at 10:00 am and ends at 8:00 pm, with minor variations between municipalities.
Residents of many jurisdictions could also choose to vote online or in advance.
The last statewide municipal ballot was held in 2018.
Prominent incumbent mayors like John Tory of Toronto and Patrick Brown of Brampton are trying to keep their elected offices.
Other constituencies will see change at the mayoral level, such as Ottawa, where outgoing Mayor Jim Watson is not seeking re-election.
With 14 names running in Ottawa, City Councilman Katherine McKechnie, former journalist Mark Sutcliffe, and former state minister and former Ottawa mayor Bob Chiarelli are the frontrunners.
The state recently gave Toronto and Ottawa “strong mayoral” powers in an effort to build housing more quickly, but both Sutcliffe and McKennie said they were not interested in a veto on Congress. I’m here.
Some local elections can also see celebrities embarking on the next chapter of their political lives.
Andrea Haworth, who led the state’s New Democratic Party in four elections, is running for mayor Hamilton, who was first elected to the city council in 1997. She resigned as state party leader this year.
Another provincial leader who resigned after Ontario’s June election is also running for mayor of a city in the greater Toronto area.
Stephen Del Duca is on the ballot in Vaughan after stepping down as Liberal Party leader after failing to win a party position or legislative seat.
Statistics from the Association of Municipalities show 6,306 candidates running for a total of 2,860 seats statewide.
31% of candidates running for office are women, up from 27% who ran in 2018.
Accolades were up 15% from four years ago, with 548 running unvoted, automatically elected to the offices of Council, Mayor and Reeve.
Online and telephone voting are also more prevalent this time around, with 217 municipalities using some form of these options from 175 in 2018.
Turnout in 2018 was 38.3%, the lowest turnout in local elections recorded since 1982.
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