FAQs - Ward 25 By-Election

In April 2025, the city councillor for Ward 25 Scarborough-Rouge Park, Jennifer McKelvie was elected as a Member of Parliament in Ajax, Ontario in the 2025 Canadian Federal Election. As a result, she resigned from her position as City Councillor and the Toronto City Council declared the office of Councillor for Ward 25 vacant, opting to hold a by-election to fill the position.

The Ward 25 By-Election will be held on September 29th. The elected Councillor will hold the office for the remainder of the current City Council term, until the municipal elections on October 26th, 2026.

To vote in the Ward 25 By-Election, you must be:

• a Canadian citizen; and
• at least 18 years old; and
• a resident in Ward 25, Scarborough-Rouge Park; or
• a non-resident of the city of Toronto, but you or your spouse owns or rents property in Ward 25, Scarborough-Rouge Park; and
• not prohibited from voting under any law.

Toronto residents can cast one vote per election and can only vote in the ward in which they live. You cannot vote in another ward or a ward where you own additional property. Therefore, the right to vote in the Ward 25 By-Election is limited to residents of Ward 25. To find out what ward you live in, you can use the City's interactive tool.

Additionally, voting is limited to Canadian citizens. Any residents with any other immigration status, e.g., temporary workers or Permanent Residents, are prohibited from voting.

You are also prohibited from voting on election day if you are:

• 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.

If you are a student from another Ontario municipality, but are temporarily living in and attending an educational institution in Ward 25, you are eligible to vote in elections in both your "home" municipality and the municipality in which you currently live to attend school. However, if your home and school residences are both in Toronto, you may only vote in the ward where your "home" is located.

If you are a resident of Ward 25, but are currently studying in another Ontario municipality, you are eligible to vote in the Ward 25 By-Election.

For additional information on vote eligibility, call 311 or check the City's website.

There are three days allocated for in-person voting in the Ward 25 By-Election.

There are two days of advance voting, on Saturday, September 20th and Sunday, September 21st, 2025. Advance voting is open to anyone who is otherwise eligible to vote in the Ward 25 By-Election. Two locations in Ward 25 will be open to voters between 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. on both of these dates:

1. Heron Park Community Centre, Community Room A & B - 292 Manse Road
2. Malvern Community Recreation Centre, Community Room - 30 Sewells Road

Both locations will have an accessible entrance, as well as a Voter Assist Terminal, enabling voters with disabilities to mark their ballot privately and independently.

A third and final day of voting will occur on Election Day, September 29th, 2025, between 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. There will be several voting places across Ward 25, with each voter being allocated a designated voting place, based on their address. You can find your designated voting place using the My Voting Place section of the MyVote website.

We have included a list of the voting places that will be available for the Ward 25 By-Election on September 29th below. Please note that these voting places are subject to change, and you should consult MyVote and the City's dedicated webpage before attending any of these locations on Election Day.

You will need to be on the Voters' List to vote in the by-election, but you do not need to register in advance. However, there are several reasons why registration on the Voters' List can be beneficial.

Registering in Advance for the Voters' List

You can add, amend or update your information on the Voters' List through the City's MyVote tool. This is particularly important if your name or address has recently changed. Ensuring your information is correct on the Voters' List before you vote will allow for a smoother check-in at the voting place and will reduce the risk of unnecessary delays or errors.

Additionally, registering on the Voters' List will give you access to a voter information card, which will provide information on where to vote and will lead to a faster voting experience. If you register before September 4th, 2025, your voter information card will be mailed to you. If you register your details after this date, you will be able to access a digital voter information card through the MyVote website. It is important to note that the voter information card is not a valid form of identification for the by-election.

Registering for the Voters' List When You Arrive to Vote

Alternatively, you can add your information to the Voters' List when you arrive at your allocated voting place. The election staff will then confirm your eligibility to vote and issue your ballot.

For more information on the Voters' List, or to add or update your information, please visit the City's MyVote website.

To vote in the Ward 25 By-Election, you will need to bring one piece of ID with you that verifies your name and your Ward 25 address. While electronic versions of documents that were originally issued electronically are acceptable, e.g. e-statements, all other forms must be presented in their original hard copy.

Voter Information Cards and Passports are not acceptable forms of ID for the by-election. The City recommends that you bring identification such as a driver's licence, bank statement, utility bill or lease agreement. A complete list of acceptable forms of ID is available online at this link.

If you are unable to vote in person, but meet the eligibility criteria to vote in the Ward 25 By-Election, the City will allow you to mail in your vote or vote by proxy.

Mail-in Voting:

To mail in your vote, you must register with the City between August 18th and September 4th, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. ET. Once your application is processed, you will receive a mail-in package for the election, containing a declaration (which must be signed for your vote to count!), an official ballot, a white secrecy envelope, and a yellow return envelope with prepaid postage.

If you are not already on the Voters' List, you will also have to include a photocopy of your identification with your ballot.

To complete your vote, simply put your marked ballot, signed declaration, and identification (if necessary) into the white secrecy envelope, put this all into the yellow return envelope, and post your ballot to the return address. Toronto Elections must receive your ballot and declaration by Tuesday, September 23, 2025, at noon.

You can also choose to hand-deliver your envelope to the election drop-boxes, located at Heron Park Community Recreation Centre, 292 Manse Rd and Malvern Recreation Centre, 30 Sewells Rd. Your hand-delivery must be received between September 15 and before noon on September 23 for your vote to count.

For more information on the mail-in voting requirements for the Ward 25 By-Election, please see the City's website.

Proxy Voting:

Eligible voters can also elect to have someone vote on their behalf, known as proxy voting. You can appoint anyone that is eligible to vote in a Toronto municipal election to act as your proxy, and it should be someone you trust to vote on your behalf. You can appoint a proxy using a Voting Proxy Appointment Form, which can be obtained by emailing voterregistration@toronto.ca or by visiting the Toronto Elections office at City Hall, 100 Queen St. The form must be completed and signed by both the voter and the proxy, and certified by the City Clerk in person by 4:30 p.m. on September 29th, 2025.

The form can be certified at the Toronto Elections office at City Hall, or by appointment only at Toronto Elections office at 89 Northline Rd. To schedule an appointment, email voterregistration@toronto.ca or call 311. Additionally, the Voting Proxy Appointment Form can be certified at either of the advance voting places (Malvern Recreation Centre and Heron Park Community Recreation Centre) on September 20th and 21st, 2025.

For additional information on proxy voting, please visit the City's Website.

There are lots of ways to stay engaged with City Council in your local community and across the City. Getting engaged with City Council outside of election time is easier than you might think, and can go a long way to influencing the decisions that matter to you and your community. At Civic Dashboard, we aim to make understanding and engaging with City Council more accessible for all Toronto residents.

Here are some examples of steps you can take to engage with City Council once the by-election is over:

1. Follow up with your new Councillor

Using our Councillor's page, you can view voting records, contact details and agenda items of the new Ward 25 Councillor, as well as all other Councillors across Toronto. You can contact your local councillor by phone or email to discuss issues that matter to you. Councillors can advocate on your behalf and provide insights into ongoing city decisions.

2. Attend a Consultation

City staff often hold consultations, surveys, or community meetings to gather feedback on new policies and projects. These are open to all and are great opportunities to share your thoughts early in the decision-making process. The City lists upcoming consultations on their consultations page - see if you can find one you are interested in attending!

3. Submit a Comment or make a Deputation

At the committee stage, members of the public can choose to share their thoughts directly on an agenda item. You can choose to submit a written comment expressing your thoughts to the committee, or you can make a deputation, which is a formal presentation where you share your view directly with council members during a public meeting. Your public comments can influence the proposal under review before it reaches City Council, or be taken into consideration for future proposals. To see upcoming agenda items that you might want to share your thoughts on, visit our actions page and hit the "take action" button!