People wait in line to register to vote at a polling station in Toronto, on April 28.Arlyn McAdorey/Reuters
Elections Canada says problems some voters experienced with its main website on Monday for several hours after the first federal polls closed are not related to a security incident.
“We continue to deal with a technical issue and are investigating the exact cause. We can confirm this is not a security incident,” said Elections Canada spokesperson Diane Benson in a statement at 11:01 p.m. “In the interim, we are using our contingency website, which was designed for such situations.”
She said that the agency became aware of issues around 7 p.m., and at 9:15 p.m. a contingency measure was put in place to allow voters to access the main website. However, she said that online Voter Information Service remained unavailable.
“We are actively working on resolving the issue,” she said. “We informed electors on our social media platforms how to find [their] assigned polling station.”
Former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley says he was concerned when he saw the site was not functioning properly.
“I think it’s going to be vital that we find out, that Elections Canada find out, exactly what happened,” he said. He said he did not believe the disruption undermined Election Canada’s credibility as most people had voted by the time the problems had started.
Notice: The Voter Information Service on our website is currently unavailable. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/pBFNmZN4hH
— Elections Canada (@ElectionsCan_E) April 29, 2025
Toronto Metropolitan University’s John Beebe, who founded the school’s Democratic Engagement Exchange, said that Elections Canada’s biggest job on election night was to count the votes and do so accurately. He said that people who were unable to access the site could have found information about polling locations in other ways, including by asking a neighbour.
As of 2 a.m. on Tuesday, with 94 per cent of polls reporting, more than 17 million ballots had been counted, according to Elections Canada’s results website. The agency will release a preliminary vote turnout percentage later this week when all ballots have been counted.
There were more than 28.5 million eligible voters, according to Elections Canada, which does not include those who registered to vote on Monday.
People wait to vote in Toronto. Elections Canada says there was record-setting advance voter turnout, with an estimated 7.3 million ballots being cast during the four-day period over the Easter long weekend.Arlyn McAdorey/Reuters
There was record-setting advance voter turnout, with an estimated 7.3 million ballots being cast during the four-day period over the Easter long weekend. Elections Canada said the 2025 advance poll numbers are a 25-per-cent increase over the ones seen in the 2021 election.
Over all, voting proceeded throughout the country with few disruptions. In a statement, Elections Canada spokesperson Matthew McKenna said that a fire was reported Monday morning at a poll in Windsor, Ont., but a replacement location was found and voting continued with minimal disruption.
Ballots arrived in the Nunavut hamlet of Grise Fiord around 1 p.m., more than three hours after polls were to have opened, Mr. McKenna said. Voting proceeded despite the late opening, he said.
Earlier on Monday in the riding of Ottawa Centre, which encompasses the capital’s downtown, including the Parliament buildings, three polling stations were set up along Elgin Street.
One voter, John Banys, said his station wasn’t too busy. The 77-year-old, who uses a walker, said that voting can be more complicated for him because of vision issues in one of his eyes.
“It’s a good time right now to vote. Canada is going to go through a lot, and it’s going to have to have some leadership,” Mr. Banys said.
In Toronto’s west end, it took Gillian Bevan just a few minutes to cast a ballot around lunchtime on Monday. “It’s important that everyone has a say,” the 27-year-old actuary said.
She said she was concerned about U.S. President Donald Trump’s talk of turning Canada into the 51st state, as well as housing affordability. “Being a young person in Toronto, I’m feeling like I might never afford a house,” she said.
Since 2000, Canadian federal election turnout has ranged between an all-time low of 58.8 per cent in 2008, and 68.3 per cent in 2015. The election held during the pandemic, in September, 2021, saw about 62.6 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.
With reports from Ian Bailey and Dave McGinn