Elections Ontario (EO) is a non-partisan Agency of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario working under the direction of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), an officer of the Legislative Assembly. EO is responsible for conducting general and by-elections in accordance with the provisions in the Elections Act and the administration of Election Finances Act which regulates political contributions, spending limits, party/candidate registration, and advertising.
One of Elections Ontario’s education and outreach goals is to ensure that first-time voters are empowered with the information they need to cast their vote in their first eligible election. As voting becomes habitual, we know that engaging 16- and 17-year-old “future voters” can help create voters for life. While Elections Ontario provides school boards with a range of education materials biannually between elections, we find that students and teachers become most engaged during an election year, when theory turns into practice. Every four years, the provincial general election has the potential to drive students’ curiosity and awareness about the electoral process. We seek to use our unique position as an election administrator to engage those future voters.
Elections Ontario is committed to reaching all Ontarians with information they need about the province’s electoral process, the right to vote and how to get involved with the democratic process.
Additionally, Elections Ontario has a mandate to implement public education and information programs to make Ontario’s electoral process better known to the public, particularly to those persons and groups most likely to experience barriers or difficulties in exercising their democratic rights.
For the 2022 general election, Elections Ontario is looking to produce a non-partisan classroom program that provides students with a parallel (concurrent with the 2022 election period) learning experience, using the election as a topical event to inspire engagement among Grade 11 and 12 students about elections and democracy. Elections Ontario is seeking proposals to help develop and run this program. This program will be bilingual: English and French.
The outreach and promotion period to secure schools’ participation in the program would begin in September 2021. The program runs across the writ period (beginning May 4, 2022) and concludes on election day (June 2, 2022).
The bid package and documentation required to respond to this RFP is available from this site.
