Online voting option added to P.E.I. school board elections

Elections for school board positions will likely be done online next year in an effort to simplify the process and increase voter turnout.

Elections P.E.I. CEO Tim Garrity says they were approached by the Department of Education and Early Years to introduce online voting for its next school board election Oct. 17, 2025.

It would involve trustee elections for both the public schools branch and the conseil scolaire.

Voting was done by mail in the last school board elections in 2022. Of the 108,000 eligible voters, only about 2,000 cast votes.

"The voter turnout is fairly low and that's just the reality of these school board elections at this point," Garrity said.

"We did increase significantly over the previous elections by doing the mail-in ballot side of it, but we would like to see those numbers go up dramatically."

Voter ID required

Garrity said Elections P.E.I.  is working through proposals received this summer. Voter ID is required to get on the voter list, and voters will be verified by what's called a "shared secret" system. The method has been used for elections in other parts of the country, Garrity said.

Voting by mail will still be an option for people who choose that method.

Elections P.E.I. said it has no plans to use online voting in provincial or municipal elections at this time.