When your Voter Information Letter for the 2026 St. Thomas municipal election arrives, don’t toss it. The City says every letter should reach voters by Wednesday, October 7th. Inside is a personal identification number (PIN). St. Thomas votes by internet and telephone, so that PIN is how you get in.
How it works. Voting opens Tuesday, October 13th at 10 a.m. and closes Monday, October 26th at 8 p.m. It stays open 24 hours a day in between. Your letter gives you a web address and a phone number. Enter your PIN and your date of birth, then vote. Internet voting works on a computer, tablet or cell phone. Phone voting works from any touch-tone phone, and the call is toll-free in North America.
You can vote for one mayor and up to eight councillors. If you are an English Catholic school supporter, you also vote for one London District Catholic School Board trustee. The other trustee seats were filled by acclamation, so they are not on the ballot. You can skip a race, or pick fewer than eight councillors. You can check and change your choices before you submit, and come back later if you get interrupted. Once your vote is cast, you get a receipt confirming it, and you can’t get back in to vote again.
The rules. One letter, one vote. There are no proxy votes in this election: the City’s by-law allowing internet and phone voting does not permit them. Handing your letter to someone else so they can vote with it is against the law, and no one is allowed to ask you for your letter. If you get more than one letter, you still vote only once, and the extras have to go back to the Voter Help Desk at City Hall.
No letter by October 7th? Check your listing on the City’s voter lookup. If you are missing from the voters’ list or your details are wrong, fill out an Application to Amend the Voters’ List at the City Clerk’s Office, Level 2 of City Hall at 545 Talbot Street, weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Bring ID. People added after the letters went out get their letter in person. If you are on the list but your letter was lost or never came, start with Election Headquarters at 519-631-1680 (press 0) or customerservice@stthomas.ca, weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Any other election question goes there too. From October 13th, the Voter Help Desk can issue a new PIN on weekdays, after confirming who you are. Voter Assistance Centres can do it too, starting October 15th. Bring ID; if you don’t have any, you can fill out a declaration of identity instead. City Hall is closed for Thanksgiving on Monday, October 12th.
Voter Assistance Centres have tablet kiosks and election staff to help, and they also take voters’ list changes. You can bring a friend to help you vote (they will be asked to take an oath), and voters with disabilities can bring a support person or service animal. As of September 30th, the City lists four:
- Thursday, October 15th, 1 to 7 p.m., Elgin Centre, 417 Wellington Street
- Wednesday, October 21st, noon to 4 p.m., St. Thomas Seniors’ Centre, 225 Chestnut Street
- Saturday, October 24th, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Elgin Centre
- Monday, October 26th, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., St. Thomas Public Library, 153 Curtis Street
Long-term care homes, larger retirement homes and hospitals also get their own voting help on site.
Meet who’s running. The St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce is holding a free candidates’ meet and greet on Wednesday, October 7th, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the St. Thomas Memorial Arena auditorium. It is set up trade-show style, with tables for candidates from St. Thomas, Central Elgin and Southwold, so you can talk to the ones you want to meet. There is no debate. LocVox’s own Know Your Candidates page offers every registered candidate the same free space for a photo, bio and priorities in their own words.
Earlier coverage: St. Thomas’s Election Ballot Is Set, and the Voters’ List Reopens Sept. 1
Sources: St. Thomas Votes 2026: Election Hub, City of St. Thomas, 2026 Municipal Election Voting Procedures Manual, St. Thomas and District Chamber of Commerce, Municipal Election 2026 Meet and Greet
By Anthony Zruna · About the LocVox Newsroom
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