With one round of advance voting left before the municipal election on Oct. 25, the mayoral campaign teams are working hard to get their supporters to the polls.
Advanced polls opened last week, but there are two more opportunities on Saturday and Sunday. The turnout is already stronger than in previous years:
- 2010 - 16,135
- 2006 - 8,367
- 2003 - 10,899
Political observers say it's a combination of an exciting race and hard work by the various campaign teams.
"A lot of what drives turnout isn't voters … thinking about things, it's the fact that the campaigns are going to work really hard on what we call 'the ground game' to get voters to the polls," said University of Toronto political scientist Renan Levine.
Coun. Rob Ford's team has been driving supporters to the advance polls and will also do so on Oct. 25.
He has used a sophisticated new telephone town hall system to connect with up to 9,000 people at once -- something that helps his team identify potential voters.
Campaign spokesperson Adrienne Batra said if you listen in, Ford is live on the other end.
The George Smitherman campaign will be holding its first telephone town hall on Thursday evening. It hopes to reach 100,000 households.
Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone's team is also organizing by telephone and trying to get supporters identified for election day.
Where to vote
There will be an advance poll in each of the city's 44 wards on Saturday and Sunday. Eligible voters must vote in their ward.
See this page to find your ward.
Eligible voters are those who are Canadian citizens, at least 18 years of age and residents of Toronto who are not prohibited from voting by any law. Non-resident owners or tenants of land in Toronto or their spouse can also vote.
The city of Toronto has a list of weekend advance vote locations.
For disabled voters, a voter assist terminal will be available.
Voting will take place between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Rossi departs
For Rocco Rossi, Thursday marked the first day since Jan. 4 that he hadn't been a mayoral candidate.
His run ended Wednesday at 9 p.m., when he announced he was no longer a candidate and would not be endorsing any of the three remaining hopefuls.
A new poll released Wednesday at 4 p.m. suggested Ford, an Etobicoke councillor, and Smitherman, a former deputy premier, are in a statistical tie. Rossi saw that as the writing on the wall for his candidacy.
"It became clear that Torontonians are looking to choose between the two frontrunners," he told reporters Thursday.
"They are currently looking at a scenario where it's either about stopping what Mr. Ford calls 'the gravy train' -- or stopping Mr. Ford."
As with Sarah Thomson, who quit in late September but threw her support to Smitherman, Rossi's name will remain on the ballot because he didn't end his campaign before Sept. 10.
A vote for Rossi or Thomson counts towards those candidates.
Pantalone remains in the race, albeit in distant third place behind Ford and Smitherman. He dismissed suggestions he would drop out.
"The vision of Joe Pantalone for city-building stays," he said at a news conference to introduce his fiscal plan.
With his campaign over, Rossi plans to recharge by going to northern Spain and taking part in a 900-kilometre walking pilgrimage.
With reports from Naomi Parness and Alicia Markson
