{"id":72343,"date":"2026-10-16T08:15:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=72343"},"modified":"2026-10-15T18:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T22:12:07","slug":"election-2026-making-elections-accessible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2026\/10\/16\/election-2026-making-elections-accessible\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2026: Making elections accessible"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is reproduced from\u00a0<\/em>Spacing‘s current “Issues & Influencers” issue<\/a> focused on the municipal election and what comes after, now in the mail to subscribers and available in select stores.<\/em><\/p>\n

During every election season, a question on most political scientist\u2019s mind is whether the voter turnout will finally increase. Over the years, there has been a steady decline in voter turnout at the municipal level, with the lowest being 29.7% in 2022, a drop from 40.9% in 2018.<\/p>\n

Without the electoral participation of citizens, the idea of democracy loses meaning and legitimacy. There are different theories as to why voter turnout is dropping. According to political scientist Anthony Downs\u2019s Rational Model Theory, before going to the polls, citizens perceive voting as an activity with a high personal cost. These hidden costs can include the polling station being too far for those who live in rural communities, bad weather, long lines, and so on.<\/p>\n

Turnout is even more of a challenge for persons with disabilities (PWDs). Elections Canada has been conducting national post-election surveys among respondents with disabilities over the past 25 years that suggest a pattern of low voter turnout. For the 2021 national election, of those who responded to the survey, \u201celectors with disabilities were less likely to report having voted (90%) than those without disabilities (94%).\u201d<\/p>\n

As to why their voter turnout is low, political theorist Michael Prince argues that PWDs are \u201cabsent citizens\u201d due to the accessibility barriers they face while navigating society as a whole. This inaccessibility affects their electoral participation as well.<\/p>\n

Over the years, there have been a series of complaints about the inaccessibility of elections in Canada. One of the earliest was about the 1984 federal election, in which the Canadian Paraplegic Association Manitoba branch submitted a successful complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission about Elections Canada\u2019s lack of level access for wheelchair users at polling stations. As a result, Elections Canada was forced to provide level access to all polling stations. It has been keeping to that promise, making it mandatory that polling stations are physically accessible.<\/p>\n

Weather can also play a role in the accessibility of an election. In 2022, Ontario experienced its lowest voter turnout rate, at 44%. Due to a major snowstorm, in 2025 many assumed the voter turnout would be reduced; instead, it rose to 45.5%. Yet the snowstorm prevented many people with disabilities from voting. In response to this situation, some advocates, such as David Lepofsky and Rabia Khendr, called for political leaders to consider not calling a snap election during the winter, or even for legislation to that effect.<\/p>\n

Other barriers can be found within the electoral process itself: In 2021 Lepofsky, who is blind, submitted a complaint that he was unable to mark his ballot independently on the mail-in ballot for the federal election. In an interview with Global News, Lepofsky stated: \u201cThe basic right we\u2019re all supposed to enjoy is the right to mark our own ballot in private and to mark it independently, ourselves, and to be able to verify this mark the way we want. And I currently don\u2019t have that as a blind person at the federal level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite these issues regarding electoral accessibility, it should be acknowledged that electoral bodies in Canada have made strides in ensuring the electoral process is accessible for Canadians with disabilities by providing alternative methods of voting and accessibility services at polling stations.<\/p>\n

Looking at Toronto specifically, in response to my inquiry, the Toronto Elections media relations team provided some insights into its commitments to accessibility. \u201cToronto plans and delivers municipal elections in accordance with the requirements and authority of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 (MEA). Accessibility is one of the key principles of the MEA…. The 2026 Election Accessibility Plan outlines the practices and initiatives Toronto Elections will use to support Toronto voters, candidates and residents with disabilities during the current municipal election cycle. Accessibility is built into various aspects of Toronto\u2019s election operations, including (but not limited to) the selection of voting places, the recruitment and training of voting place staff, and our website, communications and marketing services.\u201d<\/p>\n

This upcoming fall, Torontonians with disabilities can expect to vote in different ways: while voting in person is the better-known option, voters can vote by mail, by proxy, and at Voter Assist Terminals (VATs) at advance voting places and on election day.<\/p>\n

To vote by mail, voters should submit a request online starting on the first of September. Voting by proxy allows \u201cvoters who are unable to vote in person or vote by mail to appoint another eligible voter to vote on their behalf.\u201d A VAT is an accessible voting device that allows voters with disabilities to \u201cmark a paper ballot privately and independently.\u201d VATs include \u201ctouch screen, audio function, a braille keypad, sip\/puff tube device, a rocker pad, and zoom features to adjust font size and colour contrast.\u201d<\/p>\n

New this year is the provision of \u201cbraille ballot overlays and braille candidate lists [that] will be available at all voting places.\u201d This new feature, which was a collaborative effort with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), will ensure voters can vote independently.<\/p>\n

Toronto Elections also created the Accessibility Outreach Network in 2014, a network of accessibility advocates, consultants, and groups. As a member of this network, I had the distinct pleasure of presenting my research findings on electoral accessibility during a lunch-and-learn in January of this year. I found the staff to be attentive and willing to brainstorm solutions to issues I raised. One of these was considering the use of the Sunflower Lanyard Program from the Hidden Disabilities Network. The sunflower lanyard, usually used within the context of public transportation and international travel, provides a way for persons with invisible disabilities to get the support they need without the added burden of disclosure.<\/p>\n

While Toronto Elections does not plan to adopt it for this upcoming election, it has been dedicated in ensuring all electoral staff are trained to treat all persons with disabilities with dignity and respect and that all information regarding electoral accessibility is easy to access so that voters can explore options to vote.
\nDespite all this work on electoral accessibility, many disabled Canadians assume the electoral process is more inaccessible than it really is. When comparing Elections Canada post-election survey results for the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, only 40 to 60% of disabled respondents assumed it would be relatively easy to access the polling station before they actually voted, whereas after they voted, 90% of disabled respondents stated that it was easy to access the polling station (see chart).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note that \u201caccessing the polling station\u201d only covers the physical accessibility of the electoral experience, and does not consider other barriers such as attitudinal, informational, technological, and systemic barriers. Most Canadians will be familiar with the need for level access and elevators when talking about accessibility but are usually less familiar with alternative voting methods such as VATs and voting by mail.<\/p>\n

While this lack of electoral participation could be a result of apathy or inaccessibility, Canadians with disabilities still participate politically through advocacy, consulting, and lobbying the government. Thus, one must wonder whether non-physical barriers are also acting as a deterrent and whether there are possible solutions to this low voter turnout.<\/p>\n

One potential solution is the adoption of online voting. Online voting has been adopted by some Ontario municipalities in the past 20 years, with Markham being the first city to use the method, in 2003. Since then, the number of Ontario municipalities using online voting has risen to 178 municipalities (42%) according to 2018 data.<\/p>\n

Toronto does not offer online voting, however. Within the province of Ontario, no legislation or regulation dictates acceptable methods for each municipality, leaving what Goodman calls \u201ca patchwork of adoption across the province.\u201d This is how we end up with Markham having both in-person and online voting methods, Ajax having only online voting, and Toronto having no online voting.<\/p>\n

Asked why they do not use online voting, the Toronto Elections media team stated: \u201cToronto Elections uses tabulators to quickly, securely and accurately count paper ballots cast in person, by proxy or by mail. We are not confident that online voting can provide the same combination of security, transparency, scrutability, audibility, and public confidence as voter-marked paper ballots.\u201d<\/p>\n

The effectiveness of online voting as a means to tackle the low voter turnout issue has been mixed. In an interview with the CBC, Political Science professor Jon Pammett from Carlton University said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a method of convenience for voters \u2026 but it\u2019s not really the kind of thing that gets people out to vote.\u201d Even though many cities and towns that ended up using online voting for the first time experienced a bump in voter turnout that year, that novelty does not last long.<\/p>\n

Online voting raises security concerns that have prevented any adoption of the method at the provincial or federal level. There is also the issue of a \u201cdigital divide\u201d that can cause a problem regarding consistent internet access. There are some accessibility concerns as well, since the internet and applications are not automatically accessible, leaving most people with disabilities to encounter at least one type of barrier. Yet it could still have the potential to improve voting accessibility by eliminating physical barriers.<\/p>\n

In recent years, there has been a significant effort to improve electoral accessibility in Toronto. My hope for this October is that PWDs will have an accessible experience that will encourage them to vote in greater numbers.<\/p>\n

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Catherine Dum\u00e9 is an accessibility correspondent, consultant, advocate, and disability politics researcher. She holds a master\u2019s degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto, where she researched accessible elections.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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