Provincial screw-up has Thorold residents receiving two voters cards

Niagara | Community | Politics |

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Published October 3, 2022 at 4:39 pm

A provincial screw-up is causing some Thorold residents to receive two voter cards in the mail, rather than one.

All municipalities in Ontario receive their voters list from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), the same group that determines residents home values for municipal taxes.

However, due to an error in how the Municipal and School Board Election voter list was transferred, Ontario municipalities are seeing some residents receive two voter letters.

Thorold City staff are currently dealing with the duplications, correcting them in advance of the online voting period, making each eligible voter will only have one active PIN number that will work for voting.

Where two voter letters were issued to one resident, Thorold staff is insuring one voter letter will be deactivated, resulting in that PIN number becoming unusable.

However, the town says, “Residents who received a duplicate voter letter should keep both copies, with the knowledge that one of them will not work at the time of online voting. Residents are asked to refrain from providing their voter letter(s) to anyone but City Clerk staff.”

“We apologize for any confusion that duplicate letters may have caused residents,” said Thorold City Clerk Matthew Trennum. “We encourage anyone who has questions about internet voting or their voter letter(s) to contact the Clerks Department or utilize one of the available help centres between October 11 and 22.”

If a resident wishes to have a new voter letter issued, they can bring their voter letter(s) to City Hall during business hours before 4:30 p.m. on October 24 or visit one of the City’s help centres between October 11 and 22. Issuing a new voter letter will immediately de-active any previously sent voter letters.

Should a resident receive a voter letter addressed to a previous occupant of their home, they should mark the envelope with “moved” and return it to City Hall by mail or by dropping it off in-person.

This information will be corrected in the voter list as soon as the Clerks Department receives the letter.

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