Electors headed to the polls Monday morning in Waterloo region. “Today’s been great. So, polls opened at 10 a.m. this morning, and we were at approximately 10 per cent overall turnout, including advance,” Kitchener city clerk Amanda Fusco said around 1:30 p.m. Fusco said that election turnout has been generally on par with the last municipal vote in the City of Kitchener. “The only hiccup being people coming to city hall expecting a voting location here. Just a reminder, the location for Ward 10 — the closest one is the central library. But other than that, everything has been going very well this morning,” Fusco said. According to the City of Waterloo, as of 2 p.m., about 13.7 per cent of the 94,989 eligible voters had cast their ballots. “As of 2 p.m., just under 13,000 people have voted in the City of Waterloo municipal election including vote at home, advance voting, supervote and home voting locations,” Waterloo city clerk Julie Finley-Swaren said in an email. Voters in Waterloo told CTV News they want to see change. “There could have been improvements in the last four years that I’m hopeful with the changes — well, hopefully with changes amongst our council, that that will take place,” said Trinda, a voter in Waterloo. “I’m not very happy with the last four years. Taxes have increased so much … and yet they voted themselves an increase — not cost of living, but a really good increase. So, I spent the last three to four months looking into all of them, and I came up with the ones that have the same ideas that I have,” voter Pauline Holmes said. “But we need somebody new. We need somebody to listen to us, look after the handicapped, look after the seniors. And we don’t need those high-rises. Just makes more people. You go out driving and all the traffic now — we never had traffic like that. And the lineups — we never had lineups.” “The last council has got to really think about the decisions they made because personally, I’m not happy with them,” Holmes added. Both cities have been counting physical votes this election either in person or from home. But the townships and the City of Cambridge have taken a different approach this time around: they are all offering the option of voting online. Cambridge has been offering online voting since Sept. 26, with polls closing at 8 p.m. tonight. In Wellesley, voting online or by phone is the only option. “Online voting is an additional voting method offered to increase convenience and accessibility and is designed to allow voters to cast a ballot from anywhere — using a computer, tablet or smartphone,” Cambridge city clerk Jennifer Shaw said in an email. “I would rather go do that online than have to go out and go vote somewhere else. That makes it a lot easier,” Kitchener voter Roman Marinelli said. The city councils of Kitchener and Waterloo decided not to support online voting when the option was proposed. “So, each municipality decides their own voting methods. And so, in March of 2025, city council for Kitchener discussed voting methods and opted to pursue an in-person paper ballot election. So Kitchener does not have online voting, but we do offer many accessible voting services, both during advance and on election day,” Fusco said. “The City of Waterloo provides several options for voting, including advance polling, supervote polls (open to any resident of the city, not just in a specific ward), accessible polling stations and at-home voting (by appointment) for those unable to attend a polling station due to illness, injury or disability. Council previously provided direction that internet voting be deferred until such time as Elections Ontario and/or Elections Canada develop provincial or federal standards. The security concerns raised at that time have not been addressed, and standards have not been developed,” Finley-Swaren said. Some voters in Waterloo said getting to the polls is tough, and while there are accessible options, they’d prefer to do it online. “I broke my foot just the other day and I tried to treat it. I went to the hospitals and whatnot. It would have been so much easier not having to come out today,” Holmes said. “The online voting would have been much simpler for a lot of us, right? Not just with physical challenges, but seniors, people with full-time jobs and little kids,” Trinda said. “I do everything online, so I wish I’m doing this online as well,” another voter said. Anyone who hasn’t voted has until 8 p.m. to cast their ballot in their respective community. Unofficial results should be available online tonight when polls close. Official results are expected to be available within 24 to 48 hours.
