Essex adopts additional proxy voting requirements ahead of 2026 Municipal Election

by Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative

The Town of Essex Council adopted a policy that requires additional voting proxy requirements that will apply to Town of Essex Municipal Elections or By-Elections.

  The new policy should offer better controls with respect to the Proxy Vote process, “which remains vitally important for in-person voting and ensuring access to the democratic process,” Joe Malandruccolo, Director of Legal and Legislative Services/Clerk, explained in his Report to Council on the matter.

  Proxy voting is where a qualified elector can appoint another qualified elector in the same municipality to vote on their behalf in a municipal election.

  Through the new policy, only the Clerk’s Office will issue the required “Form 3” to qualified electors who make a request directly to the Clerk’s Office. The first part of the form will have to be filled out in front of the Clerk or a designate.

  Those Proxy Application Forms that have been issued will have a serial number stamp by the Clerk’s Office, and only they will be accepted for certification. The form will be provided to the Proxy, and the Proxy needs to go to an election location with a photocopy of the original voter’s identification, along with their own identification and the Proxy Form.

  Proxy Form Applications will no longer be received, processed, and certified at the voting location itself.

  In answering Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley’s question on how many proxies one person is allowed to vote, considering some may be doing so for more than one family member, Malandruccolo will confirm that and bring the information back to Council. He will also look up if there is a way to accommodate those who cannot get into the Town Hall, because of an injury, for instance, as asked by Mayor Sherry Bondy.

  Mayor Bondy noted the language had been a little tweaked and polished with this current policy.

  In addition, Council received the report “Municipal Election Procedures for Voting and Vote-counting Equipment for information.

  The Report on these notes Essex Council authorized a By-Law at the November 17, 2025 meeting, to use mark sense ballots and optical scanning vote tabulators for the purposes of the counting of votes cast on Voting Day in the 2026 Municipal Election.

  Councillor Katie McGuire-Blais asked if Essex was able to partner with other municipalities to get good pricing on the equipment. Malandruccolo noted the Town was able to secure a contract with Dominion Voting that came within budget.

  The Town also hired its new Election Coordinator recently, who came with some good advice. That led to ordering fewer tabulators than originally thought was needed, which will save money, he said.

  In answering Deputy Mayor Shepley’s question if there would be a scenario where votes would be hand-counted (such as after a recount), Malandruccolo said a recount was only afforded through a tabulator.

  This did get discussed at a meeting of Regional Clerks, and most Clerks do not believe a hand-count would be needed. If there was a reason to do it, it would be considered, Malandruccolo added.

  Mayor Bondy asked if there is ever a provision where after the unofficial results are in, one random box is hand-counted to ensure the human count matches the tabulator count? Malandruccolo said that was not something considered. The assurances coming from the tabulator companies are that the results are extremely accurate.