Information for shelters, food banks and community health care facilities
If an elector has no ID showing their name and home address, they can still vote in an Ontario provincial general election, by-election and referendum.
Electors without a permanent address can use the address of the food bank, shelter or community health care facility in their electoral district that they have visited most often in the five weeks before election day.
Once an Ontario provincial election has been called, administrators at food banks, shelters or community health care facilities can register with Elections Ontario to issue eligible electors with a Certificate of Identity and Residence. This certificate acts as a temporary form of ID to vote in an Ontario provincial election.
To be eligible to vote, an elector must be:
- 18 years of age or older;
- a Canadian citizen; and
- a resident of Ontario.
- Our outreach team sends food banks, shelters, and community health care facilities the Authorization for Administrators form once an Ontario provincial general election or by-election has been called.
- Representatives from the organization will complete the form, signing it in ink. Organizations operating more than one facility will need to complete and sign a form for each address and return the completed form to Elections Ontario at outreach@elections.on.ca.
- The Outreach team will send a copy of the Certificate of Identity and Residence to the email address provided on the form. This will act as the electors’ temporary voting ID.
- The same representative who signed the Authorization for Administrators form fills out a Certificate of Identity and Residence for each eligible client. The certificate must include the client’s voting location and the address of the shelter, food bank, or community health care facility. This information will be available through our Voter Information Service.
- Both the elector and the representative must sign the Certificate of Identity and Residence.
- The elector takes their completed and signed Certificate of Identity and Residence form to their designated voting location and uses it as their ID to vote. The election official will take the certificate and issue them a ballot.
Under the Election Act, if a person does not have a permanent address, the place they most often go to sleep or eat in the five weeks before an election is considered their residence for voting purposes.
This includes food banks, shelters, and community health care facilities. If your organization provides any of these functions, you may be eligible. If you have questions about your eligibility, please contact outreach@elections.on.ca or call 1.888.246.3335.
Any staff member at the food bank, shelter and community health care facilities can sign the Authorization for Administrators form, including front-line staff and volunteers.
The staff member(s) who sign the Authorization for Administrators form must be the same staff member(s) who sign the completed Certificate of Identity and Residence.
No, all signatures must be made in ink. Copies of the signed forms are provided to elections officials to authenticate the Certificates of Identity and Residence at voting locations.
The staff member(s) who sign the Authorization for Administrators form must be the same staff member(s) who signs the completed Certificate of Identity and Residence.
Yes, electors can use the completed and signed Certificate of Identity and Residence to vote at any advance voting location in their electoral district or the voting location assigned to their food bank, shelter or health centre’s address on election day.
Yes, you must sign a form for each location because each of your locations may have different electoral districts or assigned voting locations for election day.
You need to provide a form for each location, signed by the staff member you are authorizing to issue Certificates of Identity and Residence at each location.
Yes, we have a Voting Without a Permanent Address brochure with information about the program. The brochure can be ordered using our resource order form and is available on our website.