The way people vote in the October 27 municipal election will be changing in some of our local communities.

Instead of marking paper ballots, some communities are moving to electronic polling stations to try to increase voter turnout.

In Wasaga Beach, Town Clerk Twyla Nicholson says they’re moving to Internet and telephone voting after the last election only brought out 27% of the population.

“A lot of our residents live out of town but own property here so we looked at different options and we decided on Internet and telephone voting as a way of making it convenient and accessible to everyone,” said Nicholson.

Voters will receive a pin number in the mail, which they then use to enter their selection online or by phone over a course of 10 days.

Wasaga Beach is one of six local municipalities moving to the new system, where some others like Collingwood are still using mail-in ballots.

“We have used the mail-n site the past six elections”, says Town Of Collingwood employee Jennett Mays.  “We have had really good voter turnout. It's increased every year 2002, 2006, and 2010. In 2010 we had a 51 percent voter turnout”.

Barrie will be using a touchscreen voting machine this year. 

City Clerk Dawn McAlpine says the touchscreen eliminates spoiled ballots and provides a paper trail for auditing purposes.

“The top three reasons I like this system: it warns you if you have not exercised an opportunity to vote, it won't let you over-vote and it's accessible to everybody,” said McAlpine.

No matter what system your municipality is using, officials say it is critically important to make sure your name is on the voters list.