We know who’s been voted in, and we know who’s been voted out, but what’s the consensus on Canada’s first ranked-ballot election?
“I’m pleased that the ranked ballot portion of the election went as smoothly as it did. It went as I’d hoped it would go. So that’s a relief,” said city clerk Cathy Saunders.
Her advice to any other municipalities who adopt the system is to communicate both to the community, and to the candidates.
“One of the most important things is to get out into the community and have the elector aware of the ranked choice so that they can be prepared… we did over 160 events between March and September, out in the community.”
Much was decided after the first round votes were distributed: familiar faces and two new faces secured 50 per cent +1 of the vote, learning of their victory just hours after the polls closed Monday night.
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But after that, election staff went home for the evening and began subsequent rounds of counting at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Though many speculated Ed Holder would become mayor because of a wide 11,000-vote margin after the first round, his win wasn’t announced until 2 p.m that day.
“Kudos to city clerk Cathy Saunders, the first clerk in Canada to use ranked ballots,” said Dave Meslin, who has been advocating for the electoral system as part of 123 Ontario and Unlock Democracy Canada.
“London is really showing how a more authentic election can unfold. Where you say ‘OK, no one has a majority, let’s drop off the candidate with the least and see what happens.'”
An advantage to the ranked ballot system, says Meslin, is that it gives voters more say in whoever becomes their elected official.
“I was looking at the Toronto results, where tons of candidates won their seats with 30 per cent, 25 per cent. Which is crazy, those are literally people who now represent wards where most people didn’t want them.”
Meslin’s biggest concern was that it would take days for the results to come out. In some American cities, counting was done manually “with stacks of paper ballots,” or “with Excel spreadsheets.” But Meslin said London took a much better route, using automatic tabulating machines.
“The only reason there’s a delay is because the clerk is verifying each round to make sure the machine isn’t making a mistake.”
Cambridge and Kingston both voted in favour of adopting the ranked-ballot system for their next municipal elections after the question was put to a referendum on Monday. However, the result in Cambridge is not binding, due to low voter turnout.
Whether London will use the system again is unclear. Newly elected mayor Ed Holder told media after his win was announced that the system had its flaws, and he’s interested in talking to councillors, civic administration, and the city about what they liked, didn’t like and wanted to improve about the ranked-ballot system.
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