The first of two Progressive Conservative leadership debates will be held in Toronto on Feb. 15, party officials said Wednesday night as they announced online voting rules to curb fraud.

TVO host Steve Paikin will moderate the debate that will be taped next Thursday afternoon at the public broadcaster’s midtown studio and aired on The Agenda that night at 8 and 11 p.m. and on Facebook and YouTube.

A second debate in the March 10 leadership contest to replace Patrick Brown will be held at a later date elsewhere in the province, with details to come once arrangements are made.

The party, which has been dealing with troubles surrounding the security and accuracy of its membership lists, will hold what it calls a “two-stage” verification process for voting, which will be conducted online only from March 2 to 8.

“Just like you show ID to vote in person, you will show ID to vote online,” party president Jag Badwal and Hartley Lefton, chair of the leadership election organizing committee, said in a statement Wednesday night.

Following the cut-off for membership sign-ups on Feb. 16, members will be mailed “verification numbers” starting Feb. 20.

Members will then go online through their home computers, smartphones, internet cafes or public libraries and be asked to verify or correct their personal information on the voting website, and to scan personal photo identification such as a passport or driver’s licence.

The voting will be managed by an independent company, not party volunteers in a departure from past practice.

Progressive Conservative interim leader Vic Fedeli, who promised to clean up “rot” in the party, has ordered an audit of party membership lists to make sure duplicate names, for example, are expunged so that voting for a new leader is “clean and fair.”

Fedeli revealed last weekend that there 127,743 party members — almost 73,000 fewer than the 200,224 Brown boasted about on Jan. 13, two weeks before his abrupt resignation.

Party sources have told the Star the tally will be closer to 75,000 members once additional duplicates and fraudulent members are weeded out.

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