This Toronto senior hoped to vote in the federal election by mail. She was ‘shocked’ to learn she had to apply to do so

Joan Snapp, a 68-year-old in North York, had hoped to avoid a busy voting station this fall by casting her ballot by mail - once she decided which party to support in the federal election.

She'd talked about the idea with her daughter-in-law, Dawn Mushinski, who expected information about the process to arrive in their mailboxes any day now. Mushinski, a 47-year-old who plans to vote NDP, also wanted to vote by mail - both to show trust in the process itself, and to take caution during the pandemic due to contact with her unvaccinated grandkids.

But shortly after their conversation, an email landed in Mushinski's inbox from Snapp. It asked: did she know she had to apply for a mail-in ballot?

Indeed, Elections Canada requires those voting by mail to apply for a voting kit by Sept. 14, and account for time to receive it and then mail it back. All ballots have to be received by Elections Canada by the election day, Sept. 20, in order to count.

I was truly shocked that you actually had to apply," Snapp said. After finding out online, she quickly fired off an email to Mushinski as well as other friends and family. None had known about the application rule, she said. There's certainly a huge gap in people's knowledge."

While mailed ballots aren't a new option in the pandemic-era - with the option existing since the early '90s for the likes of Canadians living abroad and students living outside their home ridings - Elections Canada is bracing for an especially high turnout this fall. The agency estimates that between two and three million voters will use that option, which is lower than an initial estimate of four to five million gleaned from surveys at the height of COVID-19, but still a dramatic increase from the 2019 vote, when roughly 55,000 people chose mail-in ballots.

As of Tuesday morning, the agency said it had sent 254,714 Canadians voting kits for this election. Of them, 197,714 - or 77.62 per cent - live in the riding where they'll be voting.

Elections Canada spokesperson Nathalie de Montigny, in an interview, said the agency had been pushing out information about options like mail-in ballots on social media, and would have campaigns across radio, television, digital mediums and print with hopes of reaching those who didn't know about the looming deadline. Voter information campaigns are being run in phases, with the phase on early voting options like mail-in ballots scheduled from Aug. 28 to Sept. 12.

The agency is expecting to spend around $13 million for all election advertising efforts.

The advertising for the campaign is starting; it's on the way," de Montigny said, noting that election guides detailing voting options should also arrive in Canadians' mailboxes in a matter of days."

Once a voter applies to vote by mail, de Montigny cautioned that they can't change their mind and show up to the polls to cast a ballot - though, if they are worried about their kits being received in time by mail, they could still drop them off at voting stations or an Elections Canada office.

Some Canadians do receive their voting kits automatically by mail, as Mushinski thought - but not local voters. Kits are sent by default to Canadians registered at an address abroad, while local voters have to apply manually. Among those surprised by that news was 66-year-old Mary Hanna, a friend of Snapp's living in Oakville who Snapp alerted recently by email.

Hanna had been thinking about casting her vote by mail - for Erin O'Toole's Conservative party, she told the Star - depending on the location of her local polling station. If it was in a school, she said, she'd hesitate to attend, citing the regular presence of children who wouldn't have received a COVID-19 vaccine. The deadline to apply for a kit also caught her off-guard.

I knew about the sending in votes, and I knew you had to know your candidates to use that system, but I just figured it would be coming to me," Hanna said. I was just shocked, and I thought also about all the other people who wouldn't know about this."

Renan Levine, who teaches voting, elections and political strategy at the University of Toronto Scarborough, expects to see parties themselves sharing information about mail-in voting this fall, conscious that the pandemic may keep some supporters from casting their votes in-person.

While Levine said the mail-in process can remove barriers for those who might have historically faced difficulties with in-person voting stations, like those with physical disabilities, he also noted that certain groups may have difficulty navigating the process, like voters with language barriers in English or French. Mail-in ballots are different in appearance to ballots at the polling station, as local candidates are not listed and must be written in a designated space.

De Montigny said a phone line was operating, at 1-800-463-6868, for those who might have difficulty finding or navigating information about their voting options online. The agency had reached out to numerous organizations representing the likes of students, Canadians with disabilities and other groups with hopes of getting the word out, she added.

Snapp is meanwhile hoping to see a drastic uptick in ads about the mail-in process before the Sept. 14 deadline, to reach voters like herself, Mushinski and Hanna who didn't know they had to apply.

There's a very narrow window," she said.

Victoria Gibson is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering affordable housing. Reach her via email: victoriagibson@thestar.ca