TORONTO, July 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Vote Compass will be offered to Ontario’s 50 largest municipalities ahead of the 2026 municipal elections by the Toronto Star and Vox Pop Labs. This is the first time Vote Compass has been customized and offered at a large scale at the municipal level.

As millions of Ontario residents head to the polls later this year, the Star and Vox Pop Labs have collaborated on a new, custom Vote Compass to make it easier for people to understand candidates’ proposals. The Atkinson Foundation, the Toronto Foundation and the Hamilton Community Foundation are supporting this initiative.

Ontario’s 2022 municipal election only had 32.8 per cent voter turnout, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

The Star’s journalists provided expertise on municipal issues to help develop the new survey with Vox Pop Labs to cover key local issues like transit, housing, infrastructure, planning and more.

With no political parties at the municipal level, Vox Pop Labs and the Toronto Star are asking municipal political candidates to complete the survey about their policy proposals via email. This includes mayoral, deputy mayoral, and councillors in Ontario’s 50 largest municipalities. All municipal candidates will receive an email from Vox Pop Labs.

Vote Compass will be available for the public to use from September 2026. Users will respond to the same survey that was presented to the candidates in their municipality. Each user’s responses on key municipal policy issues will determine how Vote Compass calculates their alignment with each of the candidates who have participated in the initiative.

Vote Compass is a civic engagement tool that makes it easier for people to participate in elections. Over the past 15 years, Vote Compass has been used by tens of millions of voters in more than 75 elections and referenda worldwide.

Nicole MacIntyre, Editor-in-Chief, Toronto Star, said: “As part of the Star’s mission to support civic engagement, we’re pleased to offer Vote Compass to people in Ontario’s 50 largest municipalities ahead of this year’s municipal elections. Voter turnout at the municipal level is low. But we know from our reporting people care deeply about local issues. We hope by offering Vote Compass, people will feel more informed and ready to vote in October.”

Clifton van der Linden, Founder and CEO, Vox Pop Labs, said: “Vox Pop Labs has partnered with some of the world’s most respected news organizations to deliver Vote Compass to citizens all over the world, but it is an initiative that got its start right here in Ontario. It’s therefore fitting that the single most transformative innovation to Vote Compass since it first launched 15 years ago will once again take place in Ontario. There is ample evidence that Vote Compass consistently increases political knowledge and propensity to vote — especially among younger people. This will be especially important at the municipal level, where political information is scarcer and turnout lower than in provincial or federal elections.”

Contact:
Melanie Karalis, Toronto Star public relations
+1 548 588 1279
mkaralis@torstar.ca