Toronto council reverses position on ranked ballot
Critics decry the move, two years after supporting ranked voting, as a “setback for democratic reform.”

TheStar.com
Oct. 1, 2015
Betsy Powell

Toronto city council has reversed an earlier decision supporting ranked ballot voting, a system proponents say creates a more representative democracy.

Council voted 25-18 Thursday night to ask the province not to allow ranked choice voting, after rookie Councillor Justin Di Ciano introduced a motion calling for the reversal, saying that voting method is too “confusing.”

Under ranked balloting, voters select candidates in order of preference — potentially first, second and third. The candidate with the majority of first-place votes — 50 per cent plus one — wins, just as in the current system.

If nobody meets that threshold, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is knocked out. The second-place choices of that candidate’s supporters are added to the totals of the remaining hopefuls, and so on, until someone has a majority.

In 2013, Toronto city council voted to ask the province to allow ranked ballots to replace the current first-past-the-post system, whereby the candidate with the most votes wins, even if that’s a small percentage of the total votes in a multi-candidate race.

The province is reviewing the Municipal Elections Act with an eye to letting municipalities use ranked ballots in the next election cycle in 2018. Mayor John Tory supported ranked ballots during last year’s election and did not support the about-face Thursday night.

Municipal Affairs Minister Ted McMeekin has stressed that, should the province allow ranked ballots, it would not in any way be compulsory. The province would only give municipalities the option, he has said, and it would be completely up to them to choose the system if they wished.

Council was voting on recommendations to the province related to the Municipal Elections Act. Di Ciano’s motion states if the province amends the Act to allow municipalities to introduce ranked choice voting, Toronto should be able to opt out or only be permitted to do so after public consultations and a referendum.

“Devastating,” Councillor Shelley Carroll tweeted after the vote. Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam tweeted that it was “shameful” councillors voted against something it took years for advocates to win.

It is a “real setback for democratic reform and renewal,” Councillor Joe Mihevc tweeted.
Councillor Joe Cressy, in his tweet, wrote that changing a city council decision “on the fly, without any chance for public input, simply wasn’t fair.”

Council also voted against term limits for incumbents, as proposed by Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon, but reaffirmed the city’s request to ask the province to give permanent residents the right to vote in municipal elections.