Vote With Confidence

To vote, a person must first be registered on Markham’s voters’ list. Elections Markham manages the voters’ list using a secure electronic database that is fully integrated across all voting channels. When a person votes online, they are struck off the voters’ list in real time the second their ballot is cast. Similarly, if a voter goes to a voting place, an election official will strike them off the voters’ list before issuing them a ballot, which automatically deactivates any online voting credentials previously assigned to the voter.

A centralized electronic list provides a reliable source of truth and prevents the same voter from being issued more than one ballot, while also making the voting process easier, more efficient, and less prone to integrity gaps.

Voter fraud is rate and is more likely to happen by accident than on purpose. If there is evidence that a person has intentionally voted or tried to vote more than once, we will refer it to the police. 

Voter Information Letters (VILs) are mailed in sealed envelopes addressed to individual voters. To access the system, voters must confirm a shared secret and declare that they are the person voting.

Our system uses cybersecurity tools to restrict voting activity from the same device or network, such as geofencing, rate limiting, and heuristic signature checks.

All elections in Canada (federal, provincial, and municipal) operate within a trust-based system that seeks to balance security with accessibility. Every voting method—whether supervised or unsupervised—comes with risks of procedural interference. Rules and allowances around voter identification, assisted voting, and chain of custody all rely on a degree of trust between participants to protect the integrity of the process. Because absolute security is impossible without completely blocking access, elections always involve balancing risk against the public’s right to a meaningful opportunity to vote.

Voter fraud is rare and is more likely to happen by mistake than on purpose. If someone believes voter fraud has happened intentionally, they should report it to the police with supporting evidence.

Under Ontario law, it's illegal to force someone to vote in a certain way, or to vote at all. It's also illegal to stop someone from voting. For those who may feel intimidated going to a voting place, online voting offers a way to vote privately and securely from home or another safe space.

Anyone who experiences bribery, pressure, threats, or intimidation related to voting should contact the police.

Every online ballot cast is individually encrypted and digitally signed with a key distributed amongst multiple partial keyholders. Once voting hours close and all voters already logged into the system have had a fair chance to finish, the keyholders follow a structured process to reconstruct the key to start the count. First, online ballots go through a process that removes identifying information and mixes them randomly. This helps keep votes secret. Once the ballots are anonymous, they are decrypted and tabulated. When more people vote online, it takes more time and computing power to mix, decrypt and count the votes.

Before unofficial results are released, Elections Markham combines the totals from all other voting methods and completes a quality check for accuracy. The time needed depends on when all voting activity has ended.

Elections Markham understands that voters and candidates expect results as soon as possible after voting closes, and we work hard to provide them quickly. However, ensuring that the results are accurate is always our top priority. 

Our online voting system has been designed, tested, and deployed according to independent, nationally-recognized professional standards and best practices to protect the integrity of the voting process. This includes bank-grade data encryption protocols, third-party auditing, strict access controls, proactive system-wide and endpoint threat monitoring, and tools that allow voters to individually verify their vote. Through this multi-layered approach to online voting security, Markham voters can be confident that their votes will be cast, recorded, and counted correctly.

While researchers have previously identified configuration weaknesses in some online voting systems used in other jurisdictions, these have described possible risks dependent on a very specific set of conditions being met, not evidence where actual votes or results were changed. 

When people talk about foreign interference in elections, they are usually referring to foreign influence. Foreign influence involves coordinated attempts to shape public opinion about candidates and issues, influence voters, and reduce trust in our elections and governments. This can happen through the intentional spread of false or misleading information, coordinated online campaigns to manipulate social media, and attempts to influence and/or intimidate candidates and community groups.  

While security and intelligence agencies agree that foreign influence is a serious and ongoing threat to Canada’s elections, there is no evidence that foreign actors have ever successfully hacked voting equipment, altered ballots, or changed vote counts.

False and misleading information is sometimes shared intentionally to create doubt and undermine public trust in the voting process. In some cases, people may make supported claims about election fraud if the results do not match their preferred outcome.

Remember to always verify your information sources, and that Elections Markham is your most trusted source of accurate and up-to-date information about Markham municipal and school board elections. 

Studies of online and mail-in voting have found that these options may increase voter turnout by a small amount in some situations. Feedback from Markham voters has also shown that having an online voting option has made an important different in some people's decision to vote.  

While remote voting can make voting easier, there are many factors that influence whether a person chooses to vote at all. These can include how important people think the election is, the candidates running, the issues on the ballot, and how competitive the contests appear. Personal schedules, family responsibilities, transportation access, and other everyday life challenges can also affect participation.

The way ballots are cast cannot alone make up for motivational barriers or disengagement with the political process, but they can help address some of the everyday life issues that stop people from voting.

Elections Markham plays an important part in helping voters understand when and how they can vote, while ensuring the election process is fair and trustworthy. However, voter turnout is a shared responsibility. Candidates, governments, schools, the media, and voters all have a role in supporting a healthy democracy. 

Voting is both a right and a responsibility. Voters should to seek out reliable information, contribute to respectful public discussions, and make an honest effort to participate in our elections. 

Canada’s federal, provincial, and municipal elections operate within different legislative and logistical environments. A change to federal and provincial election voting methods requires changes to their specific laws by governments. Running country- and province-wide elections also involves managing diverse technical infrastructure across large geographic areas where digital access may vary. This makes it more challenging to introduce new voting methods while keeping the process consistent for everyone.  

In Ontario, municipalities are allowed by law to offer alternative voting options like online voting. Markham has chosen to offer online voting because it serves a localized voting population with reliable digital infrastructure. Together, these provide a controlled and scalable environment for managing risk and applying context-appropriate safeguards.

Historically, election innovation often starts at the local level. Practices that have become standard across Canada—such as optical scan tabulators and electronic voters’ lists—were first piloted by municipalities like Markham. Over time, large electoral management bodies have introduced new services to make voting more accessible as technology and public expectations change. Some methods that are common today, such as voting by mail, were once considered major operational shifts and having unacceptable security risks. 

Online voting is another option that can make voting more convenient, and early adopters like Markham have helped establish and refine technology and procedures which may lead to wider use in the future. 

Since introducing online voting in 2003, Elections Markham has continued to offer a multi-platform service model that includes in-person voting options.

While online voting has become the preferred method for many voters, professional research and direct feedback from voters and community partners indicates that maintaining multiple voting options remains an important component of the City’s overall election accessibility strategy.