When LaSalle residents cast their ballot in the 2026 municipal election, they will do so by online voting only.
Council approved the change at Tuesday night's meeting, shifting to an online only vote, and removing voting by telephone as an option.
Online and telephone voting were both offered in the two previous municipal elections. In 2022, 231 municipalities offered online voting, representing 56 per cent of all Ontario municipalities.
However, the town reported there was a decline in telephone voting, and they received numerous complaints that it was too difficult to navigate, and overwhelming for residents.
Councillor Mark Carrick said he was in favour of removing the phone option, and wanted administration to look into opening more voting help centres.
"My mother tried it and it didn't work, it was very frustrating trying to remember all the options that you need to use for a phone, electronic voting, I can support that, we did it in the last two elections," Carrick said.
Councillor Anita Riccio-Spagnuolo agreed with Carrick and said more advanced voting stations and voting help centres would help make the election more accessible.
"There are people in the community, elderly, people who don't use the internet, people who don't have access to the Internet that may require assistance, and I know that would be something we should be offering, just for inclusivity," said Riccio-Spagnuolo.
Councillor Jeff Renaud said he too was a big fan of online voting but asked if there were other ways to cast ballots.
"There were some people asking me if we could bring back any type of paper ballot, and I'm just wondering there must be a cost involved in something like that," Renaud said.
The clerk told council that bringing back paper ballots had the potential to nearly double the cost of running the election.
The town set aside $149,000 to run the next municipal election, which will be held on October 26, 2026.
-With files from AM800's Meagan Delaurier