Frequently Asked Questions

Monday, October 24, 2022

You may vote in the election if you reside in the municipality or are the owner or tenant of land or your spouse is a property owner or tenant here. You must be a Canadian citizen and 18 years old or older on election day.

You must provide proof of your identity and where you live. Even if you have your Voter Notification Card, you must still provide identification.

Please bring either:

• A government-issued photo identification that has your name and address; or
• Two pieces of identification (one that includes your name and the other should have your name and address).

This Municipal Election is a 100% in person election there is no availability of mail-in ballots.

Electors do have the opportunity to vote by proxy. For more information please visit: Municipal Election Proxy Procedures Policy

We will implement various measures regarding voting at the voting places that take into consideration COVID protocols designed to ensure spacing and distancing which will lead to a reduction of the number of people who will be at the voting place at any one time. 

Depending on the current guidelines of the Town and Province, we will be taking any additional measures as advised. 

View our Candidate information to learn about nominations and becoming a candidate 

A third party advertisement is a message that supports or opposes a candidate or a “yes” or “no” question on the ballot. It can be in any medium including print, broadcast, electronic platform, and more. It does not include issue-based advertising or advertising that does not incur a cost.

Third party advertisements cannot be made by or under the direction of a candidate and must include:

• The name of the registered third party
• The municipality where the third party is registered
• A telephone number, mailing address or email address at which the registered third party may be contacted regarding the advertisement 

September 10, 2022 is the date that was provided at the time the policy was adopted and is the earliest date that election signs can be erected.

It is refundable (assuming there are no infractions) however it is likely that it will net zero at the end of your campaign.

Please refer to the Prohibition on the Use of Corporate Resources during an Election policy.

Page 5 states that “Candidates must not, under any circumstances, use a Town logo, crest, slogans, or any other items or variation thereof which identifies or which the public reasonably identifies with the Corporation of the Town of Essex on any campaign material, election signs, social media or campaign website.

As a result of this policy, you would not be permitted to use any Town of Essex committee of Council logo as part of your campaign.

Candidates may start erecting election signs as of Saturday, September 10th - 45 days prior to Election Day.

• Candidates must remove all election signs by Saturday, October 29th - within 5 days of Election Day.
• All signs to be used in the election must be approved by the Municipal Clerk and otherwise meet the requirements of and be and remain in compliance with Town Election Sign By-law 2028. To obtain such approval, an election Sign Permit must be obtained by submitting the Election Sign Application Form to the Clerks office prior to the placement of any signs. Any election signs placed without an election sign permit will be immediately removed at Candidate or third party advertiser expense. For more information, view the Election Sign By-Law No.2028.

The Town's policy will takes precedence over those facilities if those facilities are on Town owned property. Town of Essex candidates must always firstly comply with the Town’s policies and regulations. Therefore we would take the position that such materials must be removed immediately if that library location is on a Town owned land or town owned facility.

Vehicles which may identify a Candidate are not to be located on Town facilities during the election period. Even if the vehicle just indicated for example “Joe Smith” and nothing else the fact of the matter is that if “Joe Smith“ is a certified candidate than that is publicly available information so even if the vehicle does not say for example “Vote for Joe Smith", it still may identify a Candidate to at least some of the general public because again of the fact it is public information that “Joe Smith” is a certified candidate. As a result these vehicles should not be on Town property.

Section 88.1 of the Municipal Elections Act provides candidates with the right to have reasonable access to apartment buildings and condo building for the purpose of canvassing or campaigning activities and the legislation refers to the hours of 9 am to 9pm.

For clarification purposes the Town of Essex does not consider retirement home facilities as being in the same category of residential premises as apartment buildings and condo buildings. While candidates do indeed have a right of access to retirement homes such as Harrowood, candidates are to be mindful that if such retirement home and/or long term care facility has established protocols relating to visiting hours and safety which are applicable to all.

The Canada Elections Act, 2000 makes it very clear that a person in control of a retirement home may:

1. invoke an exception to deny candidates and their representatives the right to canvass or campaign there if residents' physical or emotional well-being may be harmed.
2. invoke an exception to deny access if campaigning there would be incompatible with the function and purpose of the place or inconsistent with public safety.

To that end a person in control of a retirement home may establish the appropriate times and conditions for when candidates are able to visit the facility for canvassing/campaign purposes, as long as those rules are applied equally to all registered candidates. 

Yes, as per the Ministry’s Candidate Guide, it states:

"Goods or services that are contributed to your campaign are also expenses. They should be treated as if the contributor gave you money and you went out and purchased the goods and services. You must record both the contribution and the expense."