Duration: 1:37 minutes
Stephanie Matteis: A by-election takes place when it's time to elect a new Member of Provincial Parliament, and that happens before a general or province-wide election. This happens for a number of reasons, most commonly when someone resigns and there's a vacant seat.
Valerie Quioc Lim: So when an MPP resigns or essentially leaves office, there's no one representing that riding for that period of time. So when a by-election happens, people in that riding may not realize, but this is their chance to elect someone to make sure that there's representation for them in the house.
Stephanie Matteis: There's an official process to make this happen. The Speaker informs the House that there's a vacant seat and then the Chief Electoral Officer issues what's called a writ to fill the seat. Ever heard the saying ‘dropping the writ' ? Going all the way back to British Parliament, it's just jargon. Similar to saying ‘dropping a line'. and it means an election is being called.
Valerie Quioc Lim: But it's actually the Premier who decides when the date of the by-election is. The Premier would advise the Lieutenant Governor, and then Lieutenant Governor will sign the writ, working with the Chief Electoral Officer to set the date.
Stephanie Matteis: And voting must take place within six months of the vacancy. There are lots of ways to cast your ballot. If you can't vote on the day the polls are open, you can go to your local election office, vote by mail or in advance voting. You might be seeing this video because there's a by-election coming up that you need to know about. You can check out Elections Ontario to find all the information you need on where and how to vote. For the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, I'm Stephanie Matteis.