Toronto’s election boundaries are changing this year and the number of City Councillors elected will climb from 44 to 47. This means you have probably been assigned a new ward number and the candidates running in your area may not even include your current Councillor. Here's how to find out which ward you are in.
You’ve probably started to hear announcements about people running for Toronto City Council in the news. On May 1st, community leaders from across Toronto started putting their names forward as candidates in Toronto’s next municipal election, which takes place on October 22nd.
More candidates will continue to put their names forward in the coming days and weeks, up until the July 27th registration deadline. It’s an exciting time especially since the number of City Councillors elected in 2018 will climb from 44 to 47!
If you want to know who’s running in your community, the first thing you should do is double check which ward you live in! You might be one of those keeners who already knows your Ward number off by heart (nice job!) but most ward numbers are changing in time for the election and that’s bound to confuse even the most politically-savvy folks in our city!
Fortunately, you can easily find out which ward you live in and who’s running for election in your area by using the City of Toronto’s handy new online tool called MyVote.
By typing in your home address on MyVote you can look up your new ward number, view a detailed map of your area and access an up-to-date list of which candidates are running in your ward. In early October, closer to election day, the MyVote app will also start to give you details on when and where in the neighbourhood you can cast your ballot.
Registering to vote
If you are concerned about registering to vote, which can especially be confusing for tenants (speaking from personal experience), I have some good news for you: you don’t have to register in advance to vote! You can always show up on election day and fill out the voter registration form on the spot. The benefit of doing it in advance is that they will mail you information about when and where to vote (which is a great reminder) and you will be issued a Voter Identification Card (VIC) which will save you some time on election day!
If you want to register in advance, and don’t want to spend time on the phone with MPAC, the simplest thing to do is wait until September 4th and visit the MyVote app to fill out the online registration form!
More resources:
- Visit the MyVote to find out which ward you are in.
- View the new City of Toronto ward map (47 wards).
- View the real-time list of all candidates from A-Z registered to run in Toronto’s election here.
- Visit the City of Toronto’s Election page for updates and info.
- What do all these technical election words even mean? Check out Toronto’s Election Dictionary!
- You can confirm or update your voter eligibility through MPAC's VoterLookup.ca
Heather Marshall is the Campaigns Director for the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA).