#542 Handy Voter Reference Info

 #542 Make a plan: voting days, places, and ways to vote

Voting Day is Monday, October 26. Polls are open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

You are also voting for mayor and a school board trustee. The councillor race in Ward 13 (Rideau-Rockcliffe) is a two-name ballot: incumbent Rawlson King and Peter Karwacki.

Ward XIII turnout has sat around 37 percent in recent cycles. A minority of eligible electors is deciding the record the rest of the ward lives with. That is fixable only if people who are eligible actually vote Who can vote
You can vote if you are a Canadian citizen, at least 18 on Voting Day, and either a resident of Ottawa or an owner or tenant of property in Ottawa (or the spouse of such an owner or tenant), and not otherwise prohibited by law.

What to bring

One piece of identification that shows your name and your qualifying Ottawa address. Photo ID is not required. A voter notification letter is not accepted as identification. Acceptable pieces include a driver’s licence, Ontario photo card, utility bill, lease, bank statement, or (for students) a transcript or report card from a post-secondary school that shows your name and address.

If your name is missing or the address is wrong, you can still be added or corrected at the voting place on any voting day. If you have no acceptable ID, you can make a statutory declaration.

Official details and the full ID list: ottawa.ca/vote

Special Advance Voting — now through Sunday

Thursday, October 1 to Sunday, October 4, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“Anywhere voting”: any eligible Ottawa elector can vote at any of these 10 places, regardless of ward:

• François Dupuis Recreation Centre, 2263 Portobello Blvd.
• St-Laurent Complex, 525 Côté St. (closest of the ten for much of Rideau-Rockcliffe)
• City Hall, 110 Laurier Ave. W.
• Diane Deans Greenboro Community Centre, 363 Lorry Greenberg Dr.
• Minto Recreation Complex – Barrhaven, 3500 Cambrian Rd.
• Nepean Sportsplex, 1701 Woodroffe Ave.
• Richcraft Recreation Complex – Kanata, 4101 Innovation Dr.
• CARDELREC Recreation Complex Goulbourn, 1500 Shea Rd.
• Greely Community Centre, 1448 Meadow Dr.
• Churchill Senior Centre, 345 Richmond Rd.

Bringing children is fine. The City is running a “Voters in Training” activity at these locations so kids can cast a practice ballot and get a sticker.

Advance Voting Day

Friday, October 16, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., at your assigned voting place in your ward only.

Voting Day

Monday, October 26, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., at your assigned voting place. Some long-term care and retirement-home locations may have shorter hours.

Find your assigned place on your voter notification letter or with the “Where do I vote?” tool at ottawa.ca/vote. The letter itself is not required to vote.

Other ways to vote

• Special mail-in ballot: the application window closed September 15. Completed kits must be received by the Elections Office or a Client Service Centre by 8 p.m. on October 16 to be counted.
• Proxy: if you cannot go in person, you can appoint another eligible Ottawa elector to vote for you. Both of you complete two copies of Appointment for Voting Proxy (Form 3). The proxy takes them to the Elections Office or a Client Service Centre to be certified. Certification is available until 4:30 p.m. on October 26. A proxy can still cast their own ballot. Forms and hours: ottawa.ca/vote or 613-580-2660 / elections@ottawa.ca.

A note to younger voters

If you turned 18 by October 26 and you live in Ottawa (including in residence, a shared house, or with family), you are eligible. Municipal elections are where the gap between eligible voters and actual voters is widest, and Ward 13 has been on the low side of an already low city average. In a two-candidate race, the people who show up decide the councillor who casts Ward 13’s single vote on the budget, transit, housing files, and oversight for the next four years.

A student card alone is not enough if it does not show your Ottawa address. A lease, residence confirmation, bank statement, or transcript that shows both name and address works. If you are not on the list, say so at the desk; revision happens at the voting place.

Bring one friend who is also eligible. The mechanics take a few minutes once you are there.

This time around, inform yourselves, vote differently if the record warrants it, vote wisely.

Vote for Peter Karwacki for Rideau-Rockcliffe.

peterkarwacki.blogspot.com
Campaign page: https://peterkarwacki.blogspot.com/p/peter-karwacki-for-rideau-rockcliffe.html

Paid for and authorized by the campaign to elect Peter Karwacki, Ward 13.

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Sources for the dates, hours, and the ten special-advance locations are the City of Ottawa elections pages and the September notices confirming the list (ottawa.ca/vote and the CTV / City summaries of the same schedule). Confirm any last-minute change on the City site before you go.

Top Ten Posts on this Blog

The September 7 list still holds. Advance voting opened this morning, so the useful question is narrower: which posts still answer “why this name and not the other” in the time it takes to decide before October 26.

Nothing below replaces the original. Two items move up because the record since September 7 made them sharper. Two newer posts earn a place. The rest stay.

1. The Bridge: The King and I (#487), now with the debate on the record (#508, #519)
Still the clearest split. I support the East End Crossing. King opposes it. On September 11, in the Rogers Ward 13 debate, he did not take the question. #519 walks through the “15 percent truck diversion” claim and what it leaves out for Montreal Road and Rideau Street. The 2019-to-present paper trail is unchanged. The new fact is that the difference was available, on camera, and not taken.

2. Ottawa Police Services – My Greatest Hits (#488)
Unchanged. Det. Grus, the Board chair’s “not robust” line, and the 2022 resignation statement set against later failures. Still the strongest institutional-accountability file.

3. This is not a popularity contest (#250)
Still the shortest statement of the pitch: read the budget line, not the newsletter. Worth reading before the corn-roast season ends and Voting Day arrives.

4. The St-Laurent tunnel / Two Warnings, One Playbook (#353)
Unchanged. A 2020 engineering finding marked urgent, still open, read against Elliot Lake. Document work, not opinion.

5. The 123,000-ticket 311 bulk-closure finding (#345)
Unchanged. Original data work. Closed is not the same as resolved. A voter can pull the same source.

6. Ward Issues Map (#536) — new to the list
Fifteen issues, community associations, estimated local weight, each linked back to a post. Replaces nothing in the argument. It is the fastest way for a Ward 13 resident to see whether the file that matters on their street is on the record at all. Parks, traffic circles, gang activity, ward structure: the map is the index.

7. AI governance (#361)
Still the clearest “build, not only audit” post: a disclosure inventory, a human appeal, an Auditor General review. The September 15 note that the City is already using Copilot to screen applications, without a published rule set, is the reason it stays.

8. One River, Two Parks, No Equity (Bathgate vs. Riverain), now with the October 1 newsletter note
The basketball court came out of Bathgate. No replacement. A neighbouring ward got the modernization. Today’s post puts the same pattern next to Ādisōke: a library project from $175 million to $352.4 million, and a ward newsletter that does not carry the cost. Local, visual, checkable.

9. The Field Didn’t Shrink. The Barrier Did. (#479)
Seventeen names in the 2019 open seat. Two names in 2026. The structure is the point. A thin ballot is not a reason to sit out. It is a reason the two records have to be read.

10. Positions Ledger (#495)
Still the entry point: topics, sourced posts, searchable. If a reporter or an undecided voter wants the whole picture in one place, start here. The whistleblower post (#416) remains the through-line under the tunnel, OPS, and 311 files — someone inside likely knew first — and belongs beside the ledger rather than instead of it.

---

#442 Make a plan: voting days, places, and ways to vote

Voting Day is Monday, October 26. Polls are open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

You are also voting for mayor and a school board trustee. The councillor race in Ward 13 (Rideau-Rockcliffe) is a two-name ballot: incumbent Rawlson King and Peter Karwacki.

Ward 13 turnout has sat around 37 percent in recent cycles. A minority of eligible electors is deciding the record the rest of the ward lives with. That is fixable only if people who are eligible actually vote.

Who can vote

You can vote if you are a Canadian citizen, at least 18 on Voting Day, and either a resident of Ottawa or an owner or tenant of property in Ottawa (or the spouse of such an owner or tenant), and not otherwise prohibited by law.

What to bring

One piece of identification that shows your name and your qualifying Ottawa address. Photo ID is not required. A voter notification letter is not accepted as identification. Acceptable pieces include a driver’s licence, Ontario photo card, utility bill, lease, bank statement, or (for students) a transcript or report card from a post-secondary school that shows your name and address.

If your name is missing or the address is wrong, you can still be added or corrected at the voting place on any voting day. If you have no acceptable ID, you can make a statutory declaration.

Official details and the full ID list: ottawa.ca/vote

Special Advance Voting — now through Sunday

Thursday, October 1 to Sunday, October 4, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“Anywhere voting”: any eligible Ottawa elector can vote at any of these 10 places, regardless of ward:

• François Dupuis Recreation Centre, 2263 Portobello Blvd.
• St-Laurent Complex, 525 Côté St. (closest of the ten for much of Rideau-Rockcliffe)
• City Hall, 110 Laurier Ave. W.
• Diane Deans Greenboro Community Centre, 363 Lorry Greenberg Dr.
• Minto Recreation Complex – Barrhaven, 3500 Cambrian Rd.
• Nepean Sportsplex, 1701 Woodroffe Ave.
• Richcraft Recreation Complex – Kanata, 4101 Innovation Dr.
• CARDELREC Recreation Complex Goulbourn, 1500 Shea Rd.
• Greely Community Centre, 1448 Meadow Dr.
• Churchill Senior Centre, 345 Richmond Rd.

Bringing children is fine. The City is running a “Voters in Training” activity at these locations so kids can cast a practice ballot and get a sticker.

Advance Voting Day

Friday, October 16, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., at your assigned voting place in your ward only.

Voting Day

Monday, October 26, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., at your assigned voting place. Some long-term care and retirement-home locations may have shorter hours.

Find your assigned place on your voter notification letter or with the “Where do I vote?” tool at ottawa.ca/vote. The letter itself is not required to vote.

Other ways to vote

• Special mail-in ballot: the application window closed September 15. Completed kits must be received by the Elections Office or a Client Service Centre by 8 p.m. on October 16 to be counted.
• Proxy: if you cannot go in person, you can appoint another eligible Ottawa elector to vote for you. Both of you complete two copies of Appointment for Voting Proxy (Form 3). The proxy takes them to the Elections Office or a Client Service Centre to be certified. Certification is available until 4:30 p.m. on October 26. A proxy can still cast their own ballot. Forms and hours: ottawa.ca/vote or 613-580-2660 / elections@ottawa.ca.

A note to younger voters

If you turned 18 by October 26 and you live in Ottawa (including in residence, a shared house, or with family), you are eligible. Municipal elections are where the gap between eligible voters and actual voters is widest, and Ward 13 has been on the low side of an already low city average. In a two-candidate race, the people who show up decide the councillor who casts Ward 13’s single vote on the budget, transit, housing files, and oversight for the next four years.

A student card alone is not enough if it does not show your Ottawa address. A lease, residence confirmation, bank statement, or transcript that shows both name and address works. If you are not on the list, say so at the desk; revision happens at the voting place.

Bring one friend who is also eligible. The mechanics take a few minutes once you are there.

This time around, inform yourselves, vote differently if the record warrants it, vote wisely.

Vote for Peter Karwacki for Rideau-Rockcliffe.

peterkarwacki.blogspot.com

---

Sources for the dates, hours, and the ten special-advance locations are the City of Ottawa elections pages and the September notices confirming the list (ottawa.ca/vote and the CTV / City summaries of the same schedule). Confirm any last-minute change on the City site.

Top Ten Posts on this Blog

The September 7 list still holds. Advance voting opened this morning, so the useful question is narrower: which posts still answer “why this name and not the other” in the time it takes to decide before October 26.

Nothing below replaces the original. Two items move up because the record since September 7 made them sharper. Two newer posts earn a place. The rest stay.

1. The Bridge: The King and I (#487), now with the debate on the record (#508, #519)
Still the clearest split. I support the East End Crossing. King opposes it. On September 11, in the Rogers Ward 13 debate, he did not take the question. #519 walks through the “15 percent truck diversion” claim and what it leaves out for Montreal Road and Rideau Street. The 2019-to-present paper trail is unchanged. The new fact is that the difference was available, on camera, and not taken.

2. Ottawa Police Services – My Greatest Hits (#488)
Unchanged. Det. Grus, the Board chair’s “not robust” line, and the 2022 resignation statement set against later failures. Still the strongest institutional-accountability file.

3. This is not a popularity contest (#250)
Still the shortest statement of the pitch: read the budget line, not the newsletter. Worth reading before the corn-roast season ends and Voting Day arrives.

4. The St-Laurent tunnel / Two Warnings, One Playbook (#353)
Unchanged. A 2020 engineering finding marked urgent, still open, read against Elliot Lake. Document work, not opinion.

5. The 123,000-ticket 311 bulk-closure finding (#345)
Unchanged. Original data work. Closed is not the same as resolved. A voter can pull the same source.

6. Ward Issues Map (#536) — new to the list
Fifteen issues, community associations, estimated local weight, each linked back to a post. Replaces nothing in the argument. It is the fastest way for a Ward 13 resident to see whether the file that matters on their street is on the record at all. Parks, traffic circles, gang activity, ward structure: the map is the index.

7. AI governance (#361)
Still the clearest “build, not only audit” post: a disclosure inventory, a human appeal, an Auditor General review. The September 15 note that the City is already using Copilot to screen applications, without a published rule set, is the reason it stays.

8. One River, Two Parks, No Equity (Bathgate vs. Riverain), now with the October 1 newsletter note
The basketball court came out of Bathgate. No replacement. A neighbouring ward got the modernization. Today’s post puts the same pattern next to Ādisōke: a library project from $175 million to $352.4 million, and a ward newsletter that does not carry the cost. Local, visual, checkable.

9. The Field Didn’t Shrink. The Barrier Did. (#479)
Seventeen names in the 2019 open seat. Two names in 2026. The structure is the point. A thin ballot is not a reason to sit out. It is a reason the two records have to be read.

10. Positions Ledger (#495)
Still the entry point: topics, sourced posts, searchable. If a reporter or an undecided voter wants the whole picture in one place, start here. The whistleblower post (#416) remains the through-line under the tunnel, OPS, and 311 files — someone inside likely knew first — and belongs beside the ledger rather than instead of it.