City clerk argues against ranked ballots for municipal elections

cambridgetimes.ca
Aug. 11, 2015
By Bill Jackson

Ranked balloting will garner very little, if any, support from municipal clerks and should not be used in Cambridge for the foreseeable future, argues the city's clerk.

In a submission to the province pertaining to its review of the Municipal Elections Act, Michael DiLullo calls ranked ballots a “Toronto-centric” idea that takes the focus off the main priority of doing a thorough review of the legislation.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing undertakes a review of the Municipal Elections Act following each municipal election and is mulling the possibility of give municipalities the option to use ranked ballots in 2018.

Correspondence from the Waterloo Clerks Association will be provided as a joint response to the proposal that has “too many inconsistencies,” DiLullo noted in his written response.

In a past interview, Region of Waterloo clerk Kris Fletcher said a variety of issues must be addressed before ranked balloting could be implemented here.

The two-tier structure of regional government would cause logistical complications, she highlighted.

Cambridge now uses electronic voting, while other regional municipalities do not.

And, according to the province, school boards are not included in the ranked balloting option.

There are other issues pertaining to the Municipal Elections Act that should be addressed first, according to DiLullo.

“The nomination period is too long, there is general concurrence across the province that this timeline should be updated,” he advised.

“The period should be shortened to reflect the election period that takes place at the other levels of government. A fair timeline would be to have Nomination Day commence on May 1 or June 1 instead of January 1.”

DiLullo also suggests more resources and attention should be directed to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), which is responsible for coming up with the list of local electors.

While lists of electors for other orders of government (provincial and federal) are based on income information, DiLullo disagrees with a uniform approach.

“The voters’ list (for municipalities) should continue to remain the responsibility of MPAC but greater oversight from the province should be dedicated to ensure that they produce a better product for municipalities.”

DiLullo also believes school boards should be responsible for a portion of the cost to run a municipal election.

“Seeing that the clerk is responsible for holding municipal and school board elections, it would be advantageous to have Voting Day a PA Day so that schools are available solely for the purpose of holding elections.”