Some York Region politicians open to ranked ballot concept

Yorkregion.com
April 7, 2016
By Chris Simon

We’ll wait to see if it’s at their peril in a few years, but local municipal politicians are at least intrigued by the concept of electoral reform.

The province announced proposed changes to the Municipal Elections Act that - if passed and implemented in towns and cities across Ontario - would overhaul the way we elect politicians to local councils.

While it appears each individual municipality will be allowed to choose which changes it wants to adopt, there are several intriguing aspects contained within the proposal. Municipalities, for example, would be permitted to use a ranked ballot system in future elections and the campaign calendar will be shortened substantially, with the nomination period opening May 1 of an election year, instead of the current Jan. 1.

The province also hopes to change campaign finance rules, create a framework to regulate third-party advertising (including contribution and spending limits), remove barriers for voters and candidates with disabilities and ease restrictions on adding or changing information on the voters’ list.

Municipalities will be required to undertake a community consultation process before enacting new rules. However, any changes should take effect in time for the 2018 municipal election.

“The way we approach politics has been changing,” said Newmarket Mayor Tony Van Bynen, who supports a ranked ballot system.

“It’s good to see the province is willing to explore ways of getting more engaged and making the process more transparent. This is permissive, as opposed to prescriptive. That’s a really important shift because it enables municipalities to find out what the communities themselves feel might be appropriate.”

No Canadian jurisdiction currently uses ranked ballots.

So, a large public education campaign, administered by municipal staff, will be needed to bring residents up-to-date on the changes, Newmarket clerk Andrew Brouwer said.

Dan Desson, of Fair Vote Canada’s York Region chapter, is cautiously optimistic about the ranked ballot proposal, though details still need to be worked out.

“The announcement by the province to allow municipalities to use a ranked ballot instead of a simple X offers more options for municipalities and could result in a more representative means of selecting our mayor and town council,” he said. “Many people believe that ranked balloting is a change from ‘first-past-the-post’ but that depends what electoral system used in conjunction with a ranked ballot. We use different voting systems for different types of decisions. It is critically important to use the right system for the type of decision being made.

“The objective is not simply to sort voters into winners and losers, but to create representation for ourselves. We are voting to send someone to a decision-making body to act on our behalf.”

Newmarket utilizes an at-large vote for electing its mayor and regional councillor, but uses a ward system for selecting the remaining seven members of council.

That style could make ranked balloting a more straightforward option for the town, compared to Aurora or East Gwillimbury, which elect their entire councils at-large and often have a large number of candidates running for councillor seats, Van Bynen said.

However, East Gwillimbury Mayor Virginia Hackson will await the results of an electoral review for the municipality, before determining if ranked ballots are feasible in her jurisdiction.

Newmarket is also looking at the way its elections are conducted, with staff currently reviewing options for potential Internet and mail-in voting systems.

Aurora Councillor Paul Pirri, who has been open to the concept of electoral reform in the past, is concerned by the province’s plans. He questioned the motives and suggests ranked ballots will not work for selecting Aurora councillors, based on the current at-large voting system.

“The residents spoke loudly in the last election that they didn’t want a ward system,” he said. “That’s the only way that I think this could work. We had 28 people running (for councillor seats) in the last election. I doubt that that residents would rank all 28. I find it hypocritical. If this is (the) new standard that the government wants to impose, they should also be imposed for the provincial elections. It’s clear that these rules are being put in place to stop some candidates (like the late Rob Ford) from winning elections. That isn’t a good enough reason. I’m worried that candidates will stop sharing their ideas on how to make things better because they’ll be afraid they might upset voters. I’m not sure I see the benefit at this point in time.”

The proposal is the result of months of consultation across Ontario, which got feedback from about 3,400 residents, Newmarket-Aurora MPP Chris Ballard said.

“The move by the province is a good one,” he said. “We have heard clearly from citizens and municipalities that ranked ballot would be a good thing. Now that municipalities are given permission to move ahead, if they want to, the good conversations should begin.”

Ballard also noted the need to tighten up the length of the municipal campaigns, based on his own experience of serving on Aurora council a few years ago.

“It gave some people an unfair advantage. Some people felt that, as a sitting councillor, if they declared too early, everything they did from that point forward would be looked at as being a politician seeking votes. Other people new to the game could really do fundraising and raise their profile. The citizens of Aurora were also getting tired of a really lengthy campaign. It wastes a number of months of very valuable council time. I can see how, in larger municipalities, it would reduce the need to fundraise if you aren’t going to run a campaign.

“Though, quite honestly, the campaigns really don’t heat up until after people come back from vacations in August. They just wanted a more focused period for the election.”

GET READY TO RANK

While the exact process for ranked balloting is still largely undetermined, there are a few ways the system could work, depending on the municipality. Here are two examples from Fair Vote Canada:

• For selecting a single representative - such as a mayor or individual council member in a ward system  a ranked ballot where the winning candidate must receive 50-per-cent support could be best. Voters would be allowed to select first, second and third place choices through an Alternative Vote system. With AV, if no candidate receives 50 per cent, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is cut. That candidate’s second-place choices are then allocated to the remaining candidates. The process continues until one candidate gets a majority.
• When selecting a council at-large, Single Transferable Vote may be the best option. With the STV system, a ranked ballot is used and the number of voters and offices required helps set a quota.
• When a candidate reaches the quota they are deemed elected, and their surplus second-choice votes are distributed to other candidates. As with AV, voters can select first, second and third choices.
• The difference? AV goes from the last place candidate upwards, while STV recognizes the most popular candidates’ votes first.
• In AV electoral systems, about 50 per cent of the votes are effective - in STV, anywhere from 67 to 98 per cent of the votes are effective, depending on the number of offices required.

-Source: Fair Vote Canada’s York Region chapter