All Municipal departments will be closed on Wednesday, July 1st, for Canada Day. This includes Hidden Lake Landfill. Residential garbage collection normally scheduled for Wednesday will take place on Thursday, July 2nd instead.
The airport terminal will remain open, as usual.
Frequently Asked Questions
When it comes to voting, everyone has questions. We have put together a list of the most frequently asked questions below. Expand any question you have for more information.
Members of the public can contact the Sioux Lookout Municipal Office, 25 Fifth Avenue, at any time during regular business hours, by calling 807-737-2700.
Voting Day is Monday, October 26, until 8:00 p.m. However, in Sioux Lookout, there is a Voting Period from 9:00 a.m., Monday, October 19 to 8:00 p.m., Monday, October 26. Eligible electors can vote at any time during the Voting Period.
Sioux Lookout’s 2026 Municipal Election will be conducted by internet and telephone voting. There will be no paper ballots and no need to go to a Voting Place to vote.
Internet Voting:
Voters will receive a website address and a Personal Identification Number (PIN) in their Voter Information Letter (VIL). The website address takes voters to the Sioux Lookout Municipal Elections voting website. A voter will enter their PIN and date of birth* to authenticate their identity and verify that they are eligible to vote, on the Voters List and have not yet voted. If authentication is successful, the voter may click on the current election link, and a tamper-proof electronic ballot will appear. The voter will indicate their candidate selections by clicking on the appropriate box(es) beside the name(s) of the candidate(s) they wish to vote for. When their selections are completed, the voter “confirms” their selections and “submits” the ballot. When the voter submits a ballot, the results are encrypted and kept anonymous. The voter is issued a receipt number and is now blocked from voting in this election again. The system never allows a voter to vote twice.
Telephone Voting:
Voters will receive a toll-free telephone number and Personal Identification Number (PIN) in their Voter Information Letter (VIL). Voters call the phone number and are prompted to authenticate their identity by entering their PIN and date of birth* using a touch-tone dial pad. The system checks whether or not they have voted. If they have not voted, the system will start to read the list of candidates. The voter makes their selections, one at a time. Once voting is completed, the voter is requested to confirm their choices. When the voter confirms a ballot, the results are encrypted and stored anonymously. The voter is issued a receipt number (accessible only online) and is now blocked from voting in this election again. The system never allows a voter to vote twice.
* Please check your Voter Information Letter for a note regarding updating your date of birth. If you are required to update your date of birth, please visit the Municipal Office to have this completed.
Because the election is being conducted via internet and telephone and voters can vote any time during the Voting Period – 9:00 a.m., Monday, October 19 to 8:00 p.m., Monday, October 26 – there will be no Advance Polls or Proxy Voting.
Municipal elections are for Mayor, Councillors, and School Board Trustees across the Province of Ontario. The elections being conducted in Sioux Lookout are for one (1) Mayor and six (6) Councillors-at-Large, as well as School Board Trustees for the English and French Public and Separate Boards. Your choices will be based on your declared school board support as filed with Revenue Canada on your income tax forms.
Your Voter Information Letter (VIL) includes the list of candidates.
You may also visit the Municipal Office at 25 Fifth Avenue during regular office hours, where an unofficial list of candidates is posted.
A person is entitled to be an elector if, on Voting Day, October 26, 2026, they:
reside in the local municipality or is the owner or tenant of land in the local municipality, or the spouse of such owner or tenant;
is a Canadian citizen;
is at least 18 years old; and
is not prohibited from voting under subsection 17(3) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, or otherwise, by law.
To find out if you are on the Voters List, go to https://www.siouxlookoutvotes.ca and follow the “Are you on the voter’s list?” link.
If you are not on the list, please visit the Municipal Office for assistance.
The deadline for getting added to the Voters List is 7:59 p.m., Monday, October 26. We would suggest, however, that you not wait until the last minute.
Any changes made to your school support designation after June 1st will need to be updated using MPAC AboutMyProperty™ or MPAC’s online portal for tenants at https://school-support.mpac.ca/ . Once submitted, MPAC will send you an email confirmation. You will need to share your email confirmation from MPAC with the municipality, so that your school board support can be updated on the final Voters List.
You will need your Personal Identification Number (PIN), which can be found in your Voter Information Letter (VIL), and your date of birth.
To vote via the internet, you will need a computer, laptop, tablet or cell phone, and access to the internet. To vote via telephone, you will need access to a phone with a touch-tone dial pad or a cell phone.
A Voter Information Letter (VIL) contains information you require to Vote in the 2026 Municipal Election, including your Personal Identification Number (PIN) and the list of candidates for each office being elected.
All eligible electors on the official Voters List provided by the Municipality.
Letters will arrive approximately between September 30 and October 14.
If you have not received a VIL by October 15, please visit the Municipal Office to be added to the Voter’s List.
No. There is no registration required.
Voting Day is Monday, October 26. However, eligible Voters will be able to vote anytime during the Voting Period. The Voting Period starts at 9:00 a.m., Monday, October 19 and runs until 8:00 p.m., Monday, October 26.
You can vote from the convenience and comfort of your own home or from any computer, laptop, tablet, cell phone, or touch-tone phone.
Also, see next question.
“Remote Voting Locations” will be established at the locations and during the days and times as shown below. Voter assistance and equipment will be available at all locations during the times noted:
Sioux Lookout Municipal Office, 25 Fifth Avenue, Clerk’s Department, during regular business hours, for the full Voting Period: 9:00 a.m., Monday, October 19 to 8:00 p.m., Monday, October 26 (Voter Help Centre; public voting available)
William A. “Bill” George Extended Care Unit, 75 Fifth Avenue, Tuesday, October 20, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., Quiet Room (ECU residents only)
Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre, 1 Meno Ya Win Way, Tuesday, October 20, 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., North Pod Boardroom (patients only)
Nishnawbe-Gamik Friendship Centre, 55 King Street, Thursday, October 22, 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. (open to the public)
Hudson Community Hall, 29 Second Street, Friday, October 23, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (open to the public)
Sioux Area Seniors Activity Centre, 66 Front Street, Friday, October 23, 1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. (open to the public)
Electronic voting allows increased rights of privacy to voters with physical challenges that make traditional voting at polling stations more difficult. Sight-impaired voters can make use of the telephone; hearing-impaired voters can use the internet to vote with little or no assistance required from others. However, if you need assistance, you may ask family, friends, or others for assistance if you are voting from home.
If you have not received a VIL by approximately October 15, you can go to the Municipal Office, 25 Fifth Avenue, for assistance.
Upon confirmation of your identity and eligibility, Election Staff will be able to print a VIL with a PIN.
There could be a few reasons you did not get a VIL in the mail:
Your name was not on the Voters List at the time the VILs were prepared. Reasons for this might be that:
you are new to town; or
you have moved within the Municipality, and your old address was removed from the Voters List, and your new address was not included on the List.
A VIL may have been mailed to you, and it has been delayed in the mail system for some reason.
Yes! If you are on the Voters List and would have received your VIL if you were in town:
As of October 15, you can go to the Municipal Office, 25 Fifth Avenue, for assistance. (However, if you are leaving prior to the 15th of October, please contact the Clerk’s Department, 807-737-2700.) Upon confirmation of your identify and eligibility, Election Staff will be able to print a new VIL with a PIN. However, when a new VIL is printed for you, it will destroy the previously-assigned PIN and generate a new one. Therefore, only the most recently-generated PIN will be usable. Voters who receive a letter printed at the Municipal Office after mid-September will need to discard the original, mailed letter if it does reach them in time, since the PIN on the mailed letter will have become invalid.
If you were not on the Voters List and were added after the VILs were prepared:
As of October 15, you can go to the Municipal Office, 25 Fifth Avenue, for assistance. Upon confirmation of your identify and eligibility, Election Staff will be able to print a VIL with a PIN.
You can go to the Municipal Office, 25 Fifth Avenue, for assistance. Upon confirmation of your identify and eligibility, Election Staff will be able to print a new VIL with a PIN. However, when a new VIL is printed for you, it will destroy the previously-assigned PIN and generate a new one. Therefore, only the most recently-generated PIN will be usable. Voters who receive a letter printed at the Municipal Office will need to discard the original, mailed letter if it they find it, since the PIN on the mailed letter will have become invalid.
It is possible, but not likely. If you received more than one VIL/PIN, it is because your name appeared on the Voters List more than once. Election Ontario manages the voters list for municipalities now. Each elector is assigned a unique elector ID. This ID captures all personal and property information associated with that elector. This process means an elector will only appear on the voters list once.You are permitted to vote only once in a municipality, and you should only cast a vote using the PIN associated with your primary place of residence. Return the additional VIL/PIN to the Municipal Clerk (Municipal Office) and they will disable this PIN, rendering it unusable for the election, and update the Voters List for the future.
You may also receive additional VIL/PIN for someone else in your household, e.g. a student (18 years or older) who is away at school. The student is eligible to vote in the election where his/her permanent residence is and also where he/she is attending school. However, you may not use his/her PIN to vote on his/her behalf if he/she is away at school. It is illegal to do so.
If you have not received you VIL by approximately October 15, you can go to the Municipal Office, 25 Fifth Avenue, for assistance. Upon confirmation of your identify and eligibility, Election Staff will be able to print a VIL with a PIN.
Try re-entering the PIN and your date of birth again.
If it still does not work and/or the system shows that you have already voted, and you have not, contact the Election Help Desk. This number is shown on the top right-hand side of the voting website.
If the phone lines are busy, simply hang up and call back a short time later. Voters will be able to connect to the system over the course of the Voting Period (8 days).
No.
No. The system does not track how a particular PIN has voted, only that the PIN has been used to cast a vote.
Simply Voting, the system Sioux Lookout is using for the internet and telephone voting service, was designed from the ground-up to eliminate the risk of electoral fraud. Voters who by-pass authentication or have already voted are denied access to the ballot, and ballots are checked for validity before being accepted. Nobody could ever find out how a particular voter has voted since when a voter confirms a ballot, the results are encrypted and stored anonymously.
Communication between your computer and the voting website is encrypted with TLS 1.3 and strong cipher suites to protect against current and future encryption attacks. The entire system database is encrypted at rest using AES-256 encryption. Simply Voting’s servers are "hardened" and are subjected to daily Trust Guard PCI Compliance security scans. Simply Voting adheres to guidelines established by the Open Web Application Security Project. For more information, please visit the Electronic Voting Security Section online at https://www.siouxlookout.ca/town-hall/2026-municipal-election/information-voters
DO NOT give your PIN to anyone who may call or approach you for the number! Treat your voting PIN with the same level of secrecy and confidentiality you reserve for the PIN on your debit or credit card.
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 of these acts are illegal and have penalties defined by law.
If you know someone has voted using your PIN illegally, you should report it to an Election Official. You can obtain a replacement PIN to cast your vote by presenting yourself to an Election Official (at the Voter Help Centre and the Municipal Office), swearing/affirming an affidavit that the PIN assigned to you was not voted by you but by someone else, and providing proper identification.
