Accommodations for Students Voting in the Federal Election (October 19, 2015)

In the interest of encouraging civic and community engagement among our students, I am writing to request that reasonable accommodation be provided to students wishing to vote in the upcoming federal election.

There may be circumstances when a scheduled academic activity (such as a test or mid-term exam) may interfere with a student’s ability to vote. For instance, a student who is a full-time employee and attends class in the evenings may find it difficult to find an appropriate time to vote.

If you have scheduled compulsory and/or graded academic activities on October 19, 2015, please raise the issue with your students at the earliest opportunity.

In the event that instructors have an academic activity scheduled on October 19, 2015, they should encourage students to use a method that will cause the least amount of disruption to their classes (for example, voting by special ballot, or at advanced polls). In those circumstances when students have not used one of these methods, every reasonable opportunity should be given to them to make up work that they miss.

If you have any questions about election-related issues as they relate to students of the University of Toronto, please contact Mike LeSage in the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students at mike.lesage@utoronto.ca.