Get your name on the ballot

Once you have collected a sufficient number of signatures and completed the rest of the Nomination Form, call up your Returning Office and make an appointment to submit your form. If you do so well before the close of nominations you will have time to collect more signatures if neccessary. In the case of an unscheduled election or a by-election, the Returning Office will not be open until a few days after the writ is issued. Then you will be able to find the name, address and phone number for your RO on the Elections Ontario web site.

The Returning Officer will likely give your list of signatures to one of the clerks who will check to see if they are valid. Some ROs will accept the signature if the address is in the Electoral District. Others will check that the name is on the Preliminary list of voters.

The RO will offer you a variety of listings and other stuff. We recommend you NOT accept the list of Electors unless you have a good use for it. These are treated as confidential information and all copies must be returned or destroyed after the election. You can accept maps, list of voting locations, poll keys and such like, but if you don’t plan to use them, don’t bother.

You or your campaign manager will be invited to a couple of meetings at the RO. Attendance is not required. Mostly the RO covers procedures such as targeted enumeration.

Once your nomination has been accepted, notify your Regional Coordinator and/or the Campaign Director.