Voters

The current 2022-2026 Term of Council began on November 14, 2022, and will end on November 15, 2026. The next general municipal election to elect the 2026-2030 Term of Council will take place on Monday, October 26, 2026.

School boards follow the same term of office, and their elections are held at the same time as municipal elections.

The City of Ottawa has 24 wards. A ward is a geographical area within the municipality that is represented by one City Councillor. During an election, 24 City Councillors are elected to represent the City’s 24 wards – one Councillor is elected per ward, and one Mayor is elected to represent the City of Ottawa at large.  

Eligible electors can only vote once and must vote in the ward where they live. If an eligible elector is also the owner or tenant of a property in another ward, they are not permitted to vote in that ward instead.  

If a non-resident elector and owns or rents properties in more than one ward in the municipality, they must choose one ward to vote in.  

School boards cover large geographic areas that may include several municipalities. School boards are responsible for establishing the geographic areas within the board that trustee positions will be elected to represent. 

The City of Ottawa is responsible for conducting elections for 37 School Board Trustee positions in four school boards: 

• Ottawa Catholic School Board (English-language separate school board)  
• Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (English-language public school board)  
• Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est (French-language separate school board) 
• Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario (French-language public school board) 

Eligible electors are automatically eligible to vote for the English-language public school board unless they change their school board support and become a supporter of a different board. To change your school board support, you must meet certain criteria. 

The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is responsible for collecting information about electors’ school support. To verify, update or learn more about your school support information, visit MPAC's Online School Support Tool. 

For more information, we recommend consulting the Ministry of Municipal Affairs' 2022 Voters’ Guide – Ontario municipal council and school board elections. This guide was created to provide voters with general information in plain language concerning the rules and constraints of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 and other legislation and regulations.

A person can vote in a municipal election in the City of Ottawa if they are an eligible elector. On Voting Day, an eligible elector must:

• be a resident of the City of Ottawa, or an owner or tenant of land in the City, or the spouse of such an owner or tenant.
• be a Canadian citizen.
• be at least 18 years old.
• not prohibited from voting by law.

If you are not a resident of the City of Ottawa, you can vote for a School Board Trustee, if on Voting Day you are:

• an owner or tenant of residential property in the area of jurisdiction of the school board, who does not support any other board.

Voting for students

An eligible elector may have residences in two local municipalities at the same time if:

• the person lives in one of the local municipalities in order to attend an educational institution, but not with the intention of changing their permanent lodging place.
• the person’s permanent lodging place is in the other local municipality.

In this scenario, the elector is eligible to vote in both their "home" municipality and in the municipality where they currently live while attending school.

Voters with no address or permanent lodging place

A person’s residence is the permanent lodging place to which, whenever absent, the person intends to return.

The following rules apply in determining a person’s residence:

• A person may only have one residence at a time.
• The place where a person’s family resides is also their residence, unless they move elsewhere with the intention of changing their permanent lodging place.
• If a person has no other permanent lodging place, the place where they occupy a room, or part of a room as a regular lodger or to which they habitually return is their residence.

Eligible electors with no address or permanent lodging place can vote and determine their residence by:

• The place to which the person most frequently returned to sleep or eat during the five weeks preceding the determination is their residence.
• If the person returns with equal frequency to one place to sleep and to another to eat, the place to which they return to sleep is their residence.
• Multiple returns to the same place during a single day, whether to eat or to sleep, shall be considered one return.
• A person’s declaration regarding the places to which they returned to eat or sleep during a given time period is conclusive, in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

The following persons cannot vote in a municipal election:

• serving a sentence of imprisonment in a penal or correctional institution.
• a corporation.
• acting as executor or trustee or in another representative capacity, except as a voting proxy.
• convicted of a corrupt practice described in section 90(3) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996.

The Voters’ List is the list of eligible electors in the City of Ottawa. During non-election years the City of Ottawa does not maintain a Voters’ List.

During an election cycle, Elections Ontario is responsible for preparing the preliminary list of electors for each municipality and school board in Ontario. It is Election Ontario’s Permanent Register of Electors for Ontario that is used to prepare this preliminary list, which aids in the preparation of the final Voters’ List for Voting Day. The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is responsible for collecting information about electors’ school support.

Once a municipality has prepared the Voters’ List for a municipal election, the revision period begins, and electors may add, amend or remove their information by submitting an application to the Elections Office. For the 2026 Municipal Elections, the revision period is anticipated for early September 2026.

Update or verify your information outside of a municipal election cycle

Electors are encouraged to use Elections Ontario’s Voter Registration service to confirm if they are on the preliminary list of electors for the upcoming municipal elections. This tool can be used to confirm, update, add, or remove your information for City of Ottawa municipal elections.

Update or verify your school support outside of a municipal election cycle

MPAC is responsible for collecting information about electors school support. To verify or update your school support information, visit MPAC's Online School Support Tool.

The Elections Office is committed to administering accessible municipal elections for electors, elections workers, candidates and third party advertisers, in accordance with the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 (the “MEA”), the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA), and the related standards and regulations.

Accessibility Plan

As required under the MEA, the City Clerk must prepare a plan regarding the identification, removal and prevention of barriers that affect electors and candidates with disabilities and make the plan available to the public before Voting Day in a regular election.

The Elections Office consulted the Accessibility Advisory Committee and prepared the following plan for the 2022 Municipal Elections and any by-elections that may occur during the 2022-2026 Term of Council:

• City of Ottawa’s 2022 Municipal Elections Accessibility Plan (detailed version)
• City of Ottawa’s 2022 Municipal Elections Accessibility Plan (abridged version)

Accessibility Report

As required under the MEA, the City Clerk must make public a report on the identification, removal and prevention of barriers that may affect electors and candidates with disabilities and make the report public 90 days after Voting Day in a regular election.

In accordance with the MEA, the Elections Office reviewed the implementation of the Accessibility Plan and feedback received on the accessibility of the 2022 Municipal Elections and has prepared the following report:

• City of Ottawa’s 2022 Municipal Elections Accessibility Report