A person with no fixed address can be added to the voters’ list. We have an affidavit the individual would need to complete in order to be added to the list if they don’t have any identification with a qualifying address).

There are basically 3 options as outlined below.

• Attend a help centre during the voting period (Oct 14-24) to fill out the affidavit, get added to the list and be issued the voter information letter (includes the PIN). We would be able to vote at the help centre.
• Attend City Hall at the end of September to fill out the affidavit, get added to the list and be issued the voter information letter.
• Attend City Hall now to complete the affidavit and get added to the voters’ list. If the place where they return does not have a mailing address, they would need to attend City Hall again at the end of September to obtain their voter information letter.

This is the part of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 that speaks to this matter:

Residence

2 (1) For the purposes of this Act, a person’s residence is the permanent lodging place to which, whenever absent, he or she intends to return. 1996, c. 32, Sched., s. 2 (1).

Rules

(2) The following rules apply in determining a person’s residence:

1. A person may only have one residence at a time.

2. The place where a person’s family resides is also his or her residence, unless he or she moves elsewhere with the intention of changing his or her permanent lodging place.

3. If a person has no other permanent lodging place, the place where he or she occupies a room or part of a room as a regular lodger or to which he or she habitually returns is his or her residence. 1996, c. 32, Sched., s. 2 (2).

Exception, students

(2.1) Despite paragraph 1 of subsection (2), a person may have residences in two local municipalities at the same time if,

(a) the person lives in one of the local municipalities in order to attend an educational institution, but not with the intention of changing his or her permanent lodging place; and

(b) the person’s permanent lodging place is in the other local municipality. 2009, c. 33, Sched. 21, s. 8 (3).

Rules if no permanent lodging place

(3) If a person has no permanent lodging place as described in subsections (1) and (2), the following rules apply in determining his or her residence:

1. The place to which the person most frequently returned to sleep or eat during the five weeks preceding the determination is his or her residence.

2. If the person returns with equal frequency to one place to sleep and to another to eat, the place to which he or she returns to sleep is his or her residence.

3. Multiple returns to the same place during a single day, whether to eat or to sleep, shall be considered one return.

4. A person’s declaration regarding the places to which he or she returned to eat or sleep during a given time period is conclusive, in the absence of evidence to the contrary. 1996, c. 32, Sched., s. 2 (3); 2016, c. 15, s. 2.

source: Owen Sound City Clerk