Hamilton votes Monday: polls open 10 am to 8 pm, vote anywhere in your ward, and what the City has said about results

Voting on Monday

Hamilton's 2026 municipal election is Monday, October 26, with polls open from 10 am to 8 pm, according to the City. Voters elect a mayor, one councillor for their ward and school board trustees. New for 2026, voters are not assigned to a single poll: the City says a voter may vote at any voting location in their own ward.

• Find a location: the City's Where to Vote page lists the Election Day polls ward by ward, with accessibility features, and links to a map where you can search by address. The Election Office can also help at 905-546-4365.
• Not sure of your ward: the City has a Find my Ward tool on its election pages.
• Check the voters list: the City links to an online voters-list lookup. The City says that if you are not on the list at the poll, staff can help.
• Cannot get to a poll: a voter unable to vote on any available day can appoint another eligible elector as a proxy; the City's Voting Proxy page explains how.

What to bring

The City asks voters to bring one piece of identification showing their name and home address, and says no voter information card is needed and voters will not be asked to show one. Its list of acceptable documents includes an Ontario driver's licence, an Ontario Health Card (photo card), a utility bill, a bank or credit card statement, a lease or a property tax assessment. A voter with none of the listed documents may complete a declaration of identity at the polling location.

At the polling place, the City says, voters check in, receive a ballot, mark it behind a screen by shading the oval next to their choice and feed it into a tabulator, with staff available to help.

Turnout before Election Day

The City says the 2026 advance total has already passed the number of advance ballots cast in the 2022 election. The City's 2022 results page records 143,375 ballots cast in the election itself, a turnout of 35.38 per cent of 405,288 eligible voters. The City said Ballot-on-Demand at City Hall would continue to October 23, and it has not published a final count for those days in the sources we reviewed. Ballots cast at advance and Ballot-on-Demand locations are counted on Election Day.

Results: what the City has and has not said

As of October 25, the City's municipal election pages and its Election Day announcements, as we read them, do not say where or at what time 2026 results will be published. The City's Election Results & Archives page is where earlier elections' results are kept. Its 2022 page shows official results for mayor, councillor and each school board's trustees, with a running count of polls and tabulators reporting, ballots cast and turnout, and notes that the Clerk had certified the 2022 results, with poll-by-poll results to be posted on October 28, 2022.

For timing, the City's page for the 2025 Ward 8 by-election says the Clerk certified that result on September 24, 2025, two days after voting day on September 22. The new council's term of office begins on November 15, 2026, according to the City.

Update, October 29: The City Clerk certified the 2026 results on October 29. The City's 2026 Election Results page lists the official result for every seat, and each candidate's votes are on the City's results site, elections2026.hamilton.ca. The City says 147,299 ballots were cast, 31.61 per cent of eligible voters, compared with 35.38 per cent in 2022. HamiltonIQ's results story covers every race.