FAQs

Nominations can be filed starting May 1, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. and ending August 21 at 2:00 p.m.

Nominations must be on the prescribed forms and are to be filed with the Clerk or his or her designate at the Municipal Office, 55 King Street West, Cobourg ON, K9A 2M2 in the following manner:

• In person or through an agent;
• During regular office hours at the Clerk’s Office from May 1, 2026 to Thursday, August 20, 2026 during regular office hours, and between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm on Friday, August 21, 2026 (Nomination Day);
• With the endorsement of nomination for Council, being at least 25 signatures;
• With the prescribed statement of qualifications, signed by the person being nominated;
• With the prescribed nomination fee of $200.00 for Head of Council and $100.00 for all other offices – the filing fee shall be paid by cash, cheque, money order or by debit machine;
• With proof of identity and residence as prescribed in O. Reg. 304/13. No electronic transmitted nomination paper will be accepted – original signatures are required. Nomination papers for school boards must be filed at the appropriate municipal office.

There is the requirement that anyone wishing to run for office on a Municipal Council must submit the signatures of twenty-five (25) eligible voters supporting the nomination. The individuals providing the signatures will each have to sign a declaration stating that they were eligible to vote in the municipality on the day that they signed the endorsement. If a candidate files a nomination, and then changes their mind and decides to run for a different office on the same council, they are not required to submit new signatures.

The requirement to submit 25 nomination signatures does not apply to candidates running for school board trustee positions.

No. The Clerk is required to certify each nomination after it has been filed. The Clerk will verify the candidate’s name is on the Voters’ List and eligibility. It is the responsibility of the candidate to ensure they meet all the qualifications and file proper nomination papers. Each candidate is responsible to ensure that their forms are in order. The deadline to certify the nomination papers is past the nomination deadline and this may result in papers being rejected.

You can only start campaigning and erecting signs once your nomination papers have been filed and pursuant to the Election Sign By-law. Election Signs may only be erected after Nomination Day (August 21, 2026 at 2:00 P.M.)

It is the responsibility of each candidate to ensure they are qualified to seek the office for which they are being nominated. If you are unsure, seek legal advice immediately.

In accordance with the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 a person’s residence is “the permanent lodging place to which, whenever absent, he or she intends to return”.

The following rules apply in determining a person’s residence:

• A person may only have one residence at a time;
• The place where a person’s family resides is also his or her residence, unless he or she moves elsewhere with the intention of changing his or her permanent lodging place;
• If a person has no other permanent lodging place, the place where he or she occupies a room or part of a room as a regular lodger or to which he or she habitually returns.

Campaign provisions have been clarified to allow candidates to access apartment buildings, condominiums, non-profit housing co-ops or gated communities from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. in order to campaign. Landlords and condominium corporations will not be allowed to prohibit tenants or owners from displaying campaign signs in their windows.

Here are the excerpts from the legislation:

Access to residential premises

88.1 No person who is in control of an apartment building, condominium building, non-profit housing cooperative or gated community may prevent a candidate or his or her representative from campaigning between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. at the doors to the apartments, units or houses, as the case may be.

Display of signs at residential premises

88.2 (1) No landlord or person acting on a landlord’s behalf may prohibit a tenant from displaying signs in relation to an election on the premises to which the lease relates.

The legislation regarding the rights of candidates to enter apartment buildings, condominiums, and non-profits for the purposes of canvassing can also be found in:

• Condominium Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, Chapter 19
• Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, S.O. 2006, Chapter 17
• Co-operative Corporations Act, R.S.O. 1990, Chapter C.35

Yes, online voting does keep a record of the electronic ballot/vote. The ballot/vote are counted as they are deposited into the electronic ballot box separate from the individual. The Clerk is required to keep the ballots/votes for 120 days after the results of the election are declared.

The Town of Cobourg Elections Office staff will provide you with a blank copy of the Financial Statement – Form 4 or you can download from the Ontario Provincial Form Repository online. 

Please note it is the responsibility of the candidate to ensure their papers are completed accurately, truthfully, and within the legislated timelines. Failure to submit your financial statement can result in the immediate removal from office if elected, the inability to run in the next municipal election, and other penalties under the Municipal Elections Act, 1996.

All financial statements are posted online upon their filing with the Clerk.

No, you still must file your nomination papers in person at the Town of Cobourg Clerk's Office located at 55 King Street, West, Cobourg Ontario, K9A 2M2.

You must be eligible to run for office at the time of nomination and throughout the election. If you are elected, you must maintain your eligibility during your time in office.

Candidates will sign a declaration swearing that they will destroy the Voters’ List in an acceptable manner. If you would like to return your paper list to the Clerk’s Office we will ensure the list is destroyed on your behalf.

An employee of a municipality or local board is eligible to be a candidate and to be elected as a member of the council or local board if he or she takes an unpaid leave of absence beginning as of the day the employee is nominated and ending on Voting Day. If the employee is elected to the office, he or she shall be deemed to have resigned from the employment immediately before making the declaration of office.

Please consult legislation in the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 and the Municipal Act, 2001.

The Town has a Notice of Withdraw Form that you will be required to complete at the Cobourg Municipal Office. This must be done before the close of nominations on August 21, 2026 at 2:00 p.m.

All qualified electors on the official Municipal Elector's List provided by the Town of Cobourg.

Eligible electors who are not on the official Voters List will have to go to a location designated by the Town of Cobourg and complete the required form to have their name added to the Elector List. Once this is completed you will be given a VIL by the Election Official. This period will be between August 17, 2026 to October 26, 2026 up to 8:00 p.m.

From now until August 14 2026 you can use the Election Ontario Register to Vote Portal by visiting www.registertovoteon.ca.

Individual PINs will be mailed to eligible electors so that they are received approximately seven (7) to fourteen (14) days prior to the first voting day.

If you are an eligible elector and on the Voter List, but you did not get a PIN in the mail by the start of the election period, you can request a replacement PIN.

If the Election Official’s records indicate you were sent a PIN in the mail, then the original PIN will be disabled and cannot be used to cast a vote in the election. A replacement PIN will be issued to you if the original PIN has not been voted and you provide appropriate identification.

If you did not get a PIN in the mail, one of two things may have happened.  First, your name was not on the Voters List. PINs are only mailed to electors whose names appear on the Voters List . Secondly, a PIN may have been mailed to you and it has been delayed for some reason in the mail system.

No. The system does not track how a particular PIN has voted, only that the PIN has been used to cast a vote.

If an elector loses or misplaces their PIN, they should contact the Voter HelpLine. The Election Official can decide to replace the missing PIN if it has not already been voted. They will determine if a voter has to travel to a location, sign a form, and then replace the missing PIN, or they can decide to allow the Voter HelpLine agent to authenticate the caller and issue a replacement PIN over the phone. In both cases, the original lost or missing PIN will be disabled, and it will not be able to be voted in the election. 

Voting instructions will be included in the Voter Instruction Letter mailed to each eligible elector on the Voters List. Included in this information are instructions on how to access the voting system. Voters can cast their ballot using any device that connects to a web browser. Voters using personal computers will use the Internet to visit a website that will allow them entry into the voting system where they can cast their vote.

No. Once a vote has been confirmed it cannot be changed. This process is the same as dropping the ballot into the ballot box in a traditional paper-based election ensuring complete voter anonymity and secrecy of ballot. The system does not know how the ballot was voted; only that the PIN was used in the election to cast a vote and thus it cannot be removed from the vote count.

You can vote during the election voting period using the Internet from anywhere in the world using your PIN contained in your Voter Instruction letter.

You should treat your voting PIN with the same level of secrecy and confidentially you reserve for your bank card and PIN. Do not give your PIN to anyone who may call or approach you for the number. 

You do not have to vote from home. You can vote from any location using any any computer or device that connects to the internet. You can also vote at a Voter Help Centre location. The location of the Voter Help Centers can be found in the Voter Instruction letters sent to eligible electors or on this website under information for voters.

Stealing and opening another person’s mail is illegal. It is also illegal to represent yourself as another person and steal their right to vote in an election. Both these acts are illegal and have penalties defined by law. 

If you know someone has voted your PIN illegally you should report it to the Election Official.

You may be able to obtain a replacement PIN to cast your vote by presenting yourself to the Election Official and swearing an affidavit that the PIN assigned to you was not voted by you but by someone else.

Electronic voting allows increased right of privacy to voters with physical challenges that make traditional voting at polling stations more difficult. Voters can make use of the Internet to vote with little or no assistance required from others. If you need assistance at the Voter Help Centre to cast your vote, the Election Official present will be able to assist you.

If you received more than one PIN, it is because your name appeared on the Elector List more than once. This rare situation might occur if you changed your place of residence and have been enumerated in both locations or you own property and are the registered resident at both locations. You are only permitted to vote once in a municipality, and you should only cast a vote using the PIN associated with your primary place of residence. Notify the Election Official of the additional PIN and they will disable this PIN rendering it unusable for the election.