The City of St. John’s is going to establish a working group to take a look at the vote by mail system.

A report on the 2025 Municipal General Election recommended the creation of a working committee after the election. Postal workers went on strike during the voting period, prompting the city to postpone the electoral process until it could figure things out.

The working group is going to look at lessons learned and future voting models, and consider specifically whether to discontinue voting by mail or retain it with mandatory registration to make it easier to track ballots.

Many other municipalities use mail-in ballots but St. John’s was the only one to actually postpone the election because of the postal strike.

Theresa Walsh, City Clerk and Chief Returning Officer, notes that turnout fell below 40 per cent for that election.

Typically, about 90 per cent of the votes at City Hall come back through the mal process, so the strike left St. John’s in a unique circumstance.

The group will submit its report by the summer of 2028.