Ontario voters with disabilities face barriers in winter election: advocates

As Ontarians head to the polls in a rare winter election, disability advocates say additional barriers created by snowy and icy conditions could have been avoided and are calling on the province to make voting more accessible.

Back-to-back snowstorms hit many parts of the province this month and some cities are still working to clear the snow and ice accumulated on streets and sidewalks. David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance, said calling a snap election during the winter created an accessibility issue for voters with disabilities.

“Just one mountain of snow piled up in the way can be an insurmountable barrier for people like me who are blind,” said Lepofsky. “It could have been completely avoided, which would be completely foreseeable by anyone calling an election in February.”

Those who require assistance or are unable to go to their voting location had the option to request a home visit through their local election office up until the day before the election. Mail-in ballots were also an option, though the deadline to apply to vote by mail passed on Feb. 21.

But Rabia Khedr, national director of Disability Without Poverty, said those options aren’t sufficient. Mailboxes themselves may not be accessible to voters with disabilities in the winter and having an election official come into one’s home raises privacy concerns, she said.

“People with disabilities may not have the supports they need at home to ensure that their personal space is ready to receive a stranger,” Khedr said.

She also said she’d like political leaders to consider the timing of an election call, especially when sidewalks and roadways are covered in ice and snow.

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford called the snap election in January, saying he needs a bigger mandate to deal with U.S. tariff threats, but his political rivals have criticized the winter vote as unnecessary and a waste of money.

Lepofsky said there should be legislation to prevent a winter election – or at least safeguards “to help minimize the risk that we end up having the election at a time when we are most exposed to these snowstorms.”

He said he’d also like municipalities to be proactive when it comes to clearing snow during elections.

“You can’t avoid the fact of snow falling, but we do have a problem that when they shovel the snow, they have too often created new human-created barriers, namely piles of snow, where people need to be able to walk,” said Lepofsky.

Dave Pearce, a spokesperson for Elections Ontario, said anyone who has difficulty voting because of snow accumulation is urged to contact the agency. Pearce said Elections Ontario has contingency plans in case of extreme weather.

“From urban centres to rural communities, we have set up polling locations that make voting accessible for all, including individuals with disabilities,” he said Wednesday in an emailed statement. “Assistive voting technology was available daily at advance polls and local election offices leading up to today. It is also available by appointment on election day at local election offices.”

Lepofsky added he is already in the middle of advocacy work on the issue, having filed a human rights complaint against Elections Ontario in 2019 about the rights of voters with vision disabilities to mark their ballots privately and independently. That case will be heard this fall, he said.

Gabriel Reznick, a lawyer with the ARCH Disability Law Centre in Toronto, said another issue in this snap election is making sure voters with disabilities are aware of their options during a short campaign.

“An individual with a disability has to often seek out this information. Sometimes they’re not publicized enough in order to access this information,” said Reznick.

“People don’t know that they can be accommodated. I’ve seen (Elections Ontario) go to great lengths actually to accommodate an individual, but they were unaware that they could be accommodated until we stepped in and arranged for that process to begin.”

Aside from the wintry conditions, Khedr said there are other accessibility factors that need to be considered. For example, polling stations might be too far away for some voters, she said.

Khedr said she’d like to see Elections Ontario explore technology-based alternative options for voting so people with disabilities can vote from home.

Pearce, the Elections Ontario spokesperson, said the agency hasn’t yet found online voting technology “that will protect the integrity of the voting system on the scale we need it to.”

For Khedr, adequate alternatives and accessible options for voters with disabilities are the first step in ensuring full voter participation.

“If we are truly dedicated to democracy and want to ensure that everybody has the opportunity — not just the right — to vote, then we have to make sure that we are calling an election in a way that is fully accessible to everybody,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 27, 2025.

Rianna Lim, The Canadian Press