Pickering · 2026 Municipal & School Board Election
How to vote in Pickering's 2026 election
Voting is online this year and open for eight days. It takes about two minutes. Here is what you need, when you can do it, and the one thing most people get wrong about the school board section of the ballot.
- Online voting
- October 19–26, 2026
- Election Day
- Monday, October 26
- DDSB trustees for Pickering
- 2 seats, city-wide
- Your trustee votes
- You get two
The three steps
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Find your Voter Information Letter
The City of Pickering mails one to every registered voter. It contains the voting website address and a personal PIN, and you cannot vote online without that PIN. If it hasn't arrived by mid-October, call the Clerk's Office rather than assuming you aren't on the list.
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Vote online any time from October 19 to 26
Eight full days, from home, on a phone or a laptop. Enter your PIN, work down the ballot, submit. Election Day is Monday, October 26 — you can also vote by paper ballot in person that day if you'd rather.
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Don't stop before the school board section
Trustee is the last race on the ballot and the one most often left blank. It's also the race that decides who oversees your child's school, their programs and their support staff. Scroll to the bottom.
Why you get two trustee votes
Pickering elects two trustees to the Durham District School Board, and they are elected city-wide rather than by ward. Every eligible Pickering elector votes in the same race, and every elector may mark two names.
This catches people out. Voters read the trustee section the way they read the mayoral one — pick a single name and move on — and in doing so they leave half their say on the table. If you only mark one, your second vote simply goes uncast.
Two seats. Two votes. One ballot.
You aren't choosing one candidate over everyone else. You're choosing two.
The school board registration most people get wrong
Here is the part that surprises almost everyone: your ballot only shows the school board you are registered to support.
Ontario runs four publicly funded systems — English public, English Catholic, French public and French Catholic — and every elector is designated to exactly one of them. If you are registered as an English public school supporter, your ballot carries the Durham District School Board trustee race. If you are registered with the Catholic board, it carries that board's race instead, and you will not see the DDSB candidates at all.
People are frequently registered with a board they no longer have any connection to. It can follow a property from a previous owner, or date from a decision made decades ago. If you expected to see the DDSB race and it isn't there, that is almost certainly why.
What to do about it
You can check your registration — and change your school support designation — through the City of Pickering Clerk's Office, right up to October 26, 2026. It takes an Application to Amend the Voters' List. Start at pickering.ca/vote or call 905.420.4660 ext. 8683.
Common questions
Am I eligible to vote in Pickering?
You must be a Canadian citizen, at least 18 years old, and either a resident of Pickering or an owner or tenant of land in Pickering — or the spouse of such an owner or tenant — and not otherwise prohibited from voting by law.
What if my Voter Information Letter never arrives?
Contact the Clerk's Office. You may not be on the voters' list, or the City may have an old address for you. Both are fixable, and both are much easier to fix before Election Day than on it.
Can I still vote on paper?
Yes. In-person paper voting is available on Election Day, Monday, October 26. Online voting simply gives you eight extra days to do it from home.
Do I have to vote in every race on the ballot?
No. You can vote in as many or as few races as you like, and skipping one does not invalidate the rest of your ballot. But the trustee race is decided by whoever bothers to fill it in, which is usually a small fraction of those who could.
Where does the official information come from?
The City of Pickering Clerk's Office runs the election and is the authority on dates, eligibility and voting methods. This page summarises their information for convenience; where anything differs, theirs is correct.
One ask
When you reach the school board section, I'd be grateful for one of your two votes. I'm running to bring real mental health support, a clear policy on AI in classrooms, budgets a parent can actually read, and trustee office hours you can walk into. See the four priorities →
Get a reminder when voting opens
Sources
- City of Pickering — Elections (key dates, voting methods, voter eligibility)
- pickering.ca/vote (voter registration and school support designation)
- Durham District School Board — 2026 elections (trustee distribution by municipality)
Last reviewed 11 September 2026. Election administration details can change — confirm anything time-sensitive with the Clerk's Office before relying on it.