NOTICE: Voting period in MNO province-wide Plebiscite extended to February 28, 2023
As the appointed Chief Electoral Officer (“CEO”) for the Métis Nation of Ontario’s (“MNO”) ongoing MNO Registry Review province-wide Plebiscite (“Plebiscite”), I have decided to exercise my authority under section 17 of the MNO Registry Review Province-Wide Plebiscite Vote Guidelines (“Guidelines”) to extend the Voting Day for the Plebiscite to February 28, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. ET. This effectively extends the Voting Period for the Plebiscite by an additional five (5) weeks. A chart with updated timelines for the Plebiscite is available here.
I have made this decision after being informed by OneFeather (the independent third-party firm facilitating voting across the various voting platforms) that, due to an administrative issue, a total of 10,336 eligible Voters were not mailed their voter information packages, as required by section 7.1 of the Guidelines, in December 2022. OneFeather informed me of this administrative issue on January 11, 2023. It has also informed me that all of these voter information packages will be mailed to affected Voters by the beginning of next week.
In order to provide ample opportunity for these 10,336 eligible Voters to vote by mail-in Paper Ballot, the end of the Voting Period (i.e., the Voting Day) will be extended by five (5) weeks from the current date of January 22, 2023 to the new date of February 28, 2023. This extension provides sufficient time for the voter information packages to arrive by mail, for these individuals to vote by mail, and for their mail-in Paper Ballots to be returned via mail prior to the end of the extended Voting Period.
It is also important to emphasize that the Voting Period is extended for all mail-in Paper Ballots, as well as Ballots submitted by Telephone and Electronic Voting. So, if you have not yet voted by telephone or online, you are able to do so until February 28, 2023 at 6:00pm ET. Further, all mail-in Paper Ballots that are received by February 28, 2023 at 6:00pm ET will be counted. For more information on how to vote, please visit: www.metisnation.org/plebiscite or contact the office of the CEO directly at 1-800-263-4889 ext. 344 and via email at plebiscite@metisnation.org. For any technical issues related to voting please contact OneFeather’s support line at 1-855-923-3006 and via email at support@onefeather.ca.
Yours truly,
Paul DeVillers
Chief Electoral Officer