Elections

2026 Municipal Elections

The next municipal elections to elect a mayor, councillors, and school board trustees will be held on Monday, October 26, 2026. This four (4) year term of office starts November 15, 2026 and will end on November 14, 2030.

Nomination and Registration periods begin on Friday May 1, 2026. The Nomination Form and Endorsement of Nomination Form (25 signatures) are available online and at Town Hall at 205 Old Highway 17 in Plantagenet. Candidates must book an in-person appointment with the Clerk to submit their Nomination Form and Endorsement of Nomination Form. 

The deadline for candidates to file a nomination is 2:00 p.m. on Friday, August 21, 2026. 

Candidate and Third Party Advertiser Training Session

The eight municipalities of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell invited individuals interested in running as a candidate or registering as a third party advertiser in the 2026 municipal elections to attend a free bilingual training session on April 22, 2026. It was offered by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and it provided an overview of the rules, responsibilities, and requirements related to the municipal election process.

The training session was non mandatory. It can be viewed here. [PDF/3.6MB]

For more detailed information on becoming a candidate for municipal elections, we recommend that you consult the Ministry of Municipal Affairs' 2026 Candidate's Guide. 

Register to Vote

Register to Vote logo

If you are a resident, owner or tenant of property in Ontario, a Canadian citizen and 18 years of age you can vote in Ontario's municipal and school board elections.

Register to Vote plays a role in ensuring a fair electoral system, and it is the responsibility of every elector to make sure their information is up-to-date and accurately reflected for electoral purposes. By logging into Register to vote, eligible electors can:

  • confirm or update their electoral information
  • add or remove an elector name to an address

School Support Designation

To ensure your correct school support designation is provided to Elections Ontario in time for the next municipal and school board elections on October 26, 2026, it should be reviewed and, if needed, updated by June 1, 2026. 

While Elections Ontario maintains the Permanent Register of Electors in Ontario for provincial, municipal, and school board elections, MPAC (Municipal Property Assessment Corporation) is legislatively responsible for collecting school support designation information.  

What is school support? 

Whether you own or rent your home, your property is linked to a school board – even if you don’t have children or your children aren’t currently attending school. While you’re not required to make a designation, you do have the option to choose which school board you support. If you don’t make a choice, your support will default to the English-Public school board.  
 

How to update school support designations

Property owners can change their school support designation online using MPAC AboutMyProperty™ or our online portal for tenants. To get started, choose the option that applies to you:  

A step-by-step guide is available in English or French. 

Please note: Registration may take up to 24 hours to activate. 

You can submit a paper Application for Direction of School Support form in English or French and mail or email it to MPAC. 

To learn more or update a school support designation, visit mpac.ca/schoolsupport. 

Becoming a Candidate

The next municipal elections to elect a mayor, councillors, and school board trustees will be held on Monday, October 26, 2026.

Nomination and Registration periods begin on Friday May 1, 2026. The Nomination Form and Endorsement of Nomination Form (25 signatures) are available online and at Town Hall at 205 Old Highway 17 in Plantagenet. Candidates must book an in-person appointment with the Clerk to submit their Nomination Form and Endorsement of Nomination Form.

The deadline to file a nomination is 2:00 p.m. on Friday, August 21, 2026. 

A nomination is made by completing and filing the following in the office of the Clerk:

  • Form 1: prescribed nomination form
  • Form 2: 25 endorsement signatures from eligible electors (not required for school board trustee positions)
  • Filing fee of 
    • $200.00 for the Mayor; or
    • $100.00 for all other offices. 
    • The filing fee is payable by cash, certified cheque, money order or Interact. 
  • Declaration of qualifications
  • Consent to release personal information

Candidates will be required to provide proof of identity at the time of filing. Only forms with original signatures filed in person by the candidate or by an agent will be accepted.

A person cannot raise or spend money on an election camplaign until they have filed their nomination paper. 

In the event there are an insufficient number of certified candidates to fill all positions available, nominations will be reopened for the vacant position only on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 pm.

For more detailed information on becoming a candidate for municipal elections, we recommend that you consult the Ministry of Municipal Affairs' 2026 Candidate's Guide [PDF/17.8MB]

Campaign Finance Information for Municipal Council Candidates

Attention Candidates:

In accordance with the Corporation of the Township of Alfred and Plantagenet By-law Number 2018-48: 

Members of Council / candidates shall not:

  • Use their constituency office or any municipally provided facilities for any election-related purposes, which includes displaying any election-related material in the office; 
  • Use municipal equipment and/or other municipal resources for any election-related purposes, unless the municipal equipment and/or resources are available for such use by the public generally and the member of Council is receiving no special reference with respect to its use; 
  • Use the municipal voice mail system to record election-related messages; 
  • Use a cell phone which is municipally provided for their campaign purposes; 
  • Use the municipality's crest or logo in campaign material; and 
  • Print or distribute any material paid by municipal funds that illustrates that a member of Council or any other individual is registered in any election or that they will be running for office.

Voting Process

Voter Information Letters will be mailed by first-class mail to all Electors to enable them to use the telephone/Internet voting service.

There are three ways that you can vote:

  1. Accessing the telephone number provided on your Voter Information Letter by using a touch-tone telephone or cellular telephone, but not a rotary dial telephone.  Should the preceding be incorrectly completed, the interactive response system will provide an error message requesting that the Elector obtain assistance through the Voter Help Centre;
  2. Accessing the Internet address provided on the Voter Information Letter by using a dial modem access or a high-speed connection;
  3. Attending a Voter Help Centre during the following dates and times. Telephones, computers and/or tablets will be available (Dates will be announced in a timely manner).

Ministry of Municipal Affairs 2026 Voter's Guide