Elections Canada is exploring the potential of an electronic ballot delivery system to speed up the process for absentee voters.
The agency is asking for feedback from potential suppliers on how to design a system that would allow voters who are unable to vote on election day or in advance polls to download and print a ballot instead of waiting for one to show up in the mail.
That would include people with disabilities, in the military, away from home or behind bars, as well as anyone who does not want to vote the regular way.
Elections Canada is calling it a fact-finding exercise to get a sense of the technology that is out there, noting that the Canada Elections Act would need to be amended before any changes could actually take place.
An electronic ballot for absentee voters was one of the recommendations from Marc Mayrand, who retired as chief electoral officer last year, on how to modernize the voting system.
This would be different from online voting, which Elections Canada has no plans to implement without clear direction from Parliament.