Nearly half of Ottawa mail-in voter kits did not reach Elections Ottawa by the deadline
The city issued 5,511 special ballot kits for the October 26 election. Only 2,957 were returned by the October 16 deadline. Voters who did not return their kit can still vote in person on Monday.
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The City of Ottawa sent out 5,511 special ballot voter kits for the October 26, 2026 municipal election. Elections Ottawa received only 2,957 of them, 53 per cent, by the 8 p.m. deadline on October 16, city clerk Caitlin Salter MacDonald wrote in a statement reported by the Ottawa Citizen on October 23.
That means 2,494 kits did not arrive on time and those ballots will not be counted. Voters were notified by email on Tuesday, October 20, six days before election day and four days after the last advance voting opportunity.
What the city clerk said
Salter MacDonald said the deadline was set under the Municipal Elections Act and that the city worked with Canada Post to flag the return deadline and speed up processing where possible. "While Canada Post's standard delivery timelines indicated that this timeframe would generally be sufficient, mail service and delivery remains outside the control of the municipality," she wrote.
Canada Post told the Ottawa Citizen that a special team was working with the city on its election mail. Its Ottawa operations team saw no delays in delivery between October 5 and 12, though no mail was delivered on October 12, which was Thanksgiving Monday. The standard delivery time for mail within a city is two days from the point a letter arrives at the processing plant, Canada Post said.
A gap from 2022
In 2022, the first year Ottawa offered mail-in voting in a municipal election, the city issued 10,179 kits and received 8,685 back by the deadline, which was 85 per cent. This year's 53 per cent return rate is far below that. The city did not explain why so few kits came back in time.
One Ottawa resident, Colleen Francis, told the Ottawa Citizen she had placed her ballot in a Canada Post box more than a week before the October 16 deadline and was surprised to learn it had not arrived. "I dropped it in the morning, so to go eight days to wherever it has to go seems shocking," she said.
60 voters switched to advance voting
The Ottawa Citizen also reported that 60 people who requested a mail-in kit chose to vote in person during advance voting instead. Advance voting in Ottawa ran from October 1 to 4 and again on October 16, with polling places open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on each of those days.
You can still vote in person on Monday
Voters whose mail-in kits were not received by the deadline can still vote in person on election day. Polling stations across Ottawa are open on Monday, October 26 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters who cannot go in person can contact Elections Ottawa for help, including information about the proxy voting process, the city said.
Candidate pages for all 24 wards and the mayor's race are at /on/ottawa-2026/candidates.
Questions this story answers
How many mail-in ballots did Ottawa issue for the 2026 municipal election?
The city issued special ballot voter kits to 5,511 eligible voters for the October 26, 2026 municipal election. That figure comes from city clerk Caitlin Salter MacDonald, who wrote about the results in a statement reported by the Ottawa Citizen on October 23, 2026.
How many mail-in ballots were received by the deadline?
Elections Ottawa received 2,957 of the 5,511 kits by the 8 p.m. deadline on October 16, 2026. That is 53 per cent of the kits sent out. The other 2,494 kits did not arrive in time to be counted, according to the city clerk's statement.
What was the mail-in ballot return rate in 2022?
In 2022, the first year mail-in voting was available in Ottawa's municipal election, the city issued 10,179 ballots and received 8,685 back by the deadline. That was 85 per cent of the kits distributed, compared to 53 per cent in 2026, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
Why did so many mail-in ballots miss the 2026 deadline?
The city did not say why such a large share of kits were not returned in time. Canada Post told the Ottawa Citizen that its Ottawa operations team saw no delivery delays between October 5 and 12, though no mail was delivered on October 12, Thanksgiving Monday. Canada Post's standard delivery time within a city is two days from the point the letter arrives at the processing plant.
When were voters told their mail-in ballot had not arrived?
Voters were notified by email on Tuesday, October 20, four days after the final advance voting opportunity and six days before election day. The Ottawa Citizen reported that one voter, Colleen Francis, said she had dropped her ballot at a Canada Post office more than a week before the October 16 deadline and was surprised it had not arrived.
Can I still vote if my mail-in ballot did not arrive in time?
Yes. The City of Ottawa says voters whose mail-in kits were not received by the deadline can still vote in person on election day, Monday, October 26, 2026. Polling stations across Ottawa are open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters who cannot go in person can contact Elections Ottawa for help, including information about the proxy voting process.
Did any voters who received mail-in kits end up voting in person instead?
Yes. The Ottawa Citizen reported that 60 electors who had requested a mail-in kit chose to vote during the advance voting period instead. That is separate from the 2,494 whose kits did not arrive at Elections Ottawa by the deadline.
Where can I find the list of polling stations for Ottawa's October 26 election?
Elections Ottawa runs the list of voting places. You can also find candidate information for the mayor's race and all 24 wards at the voche.me Ottawa 2026 candidate pages at /on/ottawa-2026/candidates#mayor.
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