Most out-of-town students at Carleton don’t realize they can vote twice in Ontario municipal elections, so the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) is urging them to do so by hanging posters around campus.
The public awareness campaign, called “Vote Twice” launched Oct. 8, in preparation for the Oct. 27 municipal election.
“You can actually vote in both municipalities that you belong to,” said Keith Burley, a RRRA office assistant working on the campaign.
“If you are a permanent resident of, let’s say, Toronto, you can vote in your hometown’s municipal elections and you can also vote here because you’re a student for half the year in Ottawa,” he said.
According to the Municipal Elections Act, a person in Ontario may vote in municipal elections if they are a Canadian citizen, are at least 18 years old, and reside or own property or land in the local municipality.
Although the act states, “a person may only have one residence at a time,” it allows students to vote in two municipal elections when they live in “one of the local municipalities in order to attend an educational institution.”
Burley said because Ontario’s municipal election date falls during Carleton’s reading week, students can vote at home on election day and at advance polling on Oct. 18 in Fenn Lounge.
Many students, like Garnet Gladwin, a first-year electrical engineering major from Mississippi Mills, Ont., were unaware they could vote twice.
“I had no clue I could, but I’ll probably vote here, too,” Gladwin said. “I might as well.”
“Here on residence we have a lot of first time voters,” said Graham Pedregosa, RRRA vice-president (administration).
“A lot of students say, ‘Wait, I can vote twice?’ It catches people off guard,” he said.
Pedregosa said students have been happy to find out they can vote in Ottawa and in their hometowns.
“I think this is really great because there’s so many big races in places like Toronto, Mississauga, and Brampton right now, and that’s where a large demographic of students come from,” he said.
“People want to have their say and letting them know that they can, I think, is huge.”
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