Ranked ballots rejected for 2018 election by major northern cities

Very few, if any, northerners will be voting with ranked ballots in the municipal elections next year.

All five major cities in northern Ontario have now said 'no thank you' to the province's offer to change their voting systems.

Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie city councils were the last to vote this week, saying that they don't want their citizens voting with ranked ballots in 2018. Sudbury, North Bay and Thunder Bay have already rejected the idea.

• Ontario cities allowed to use ranked election ballots in 2018

Timmins city councillor Michael Doody called the proposed system "confusing" and feared it would lead to lower voter turnout, which is usually around 50 per cent in the best of years.

"This system to try and explain it to if I can use the word average voters, I think we'll be lucky if we get 30 per cent out to vote," Doody said at council this week.

The northern cities have all said no, butall have alsosaid they would monitor how the new system works in other municipalities.

They might not have much to monitor.

No Ontario municipalities have signed on yet. London is the only city that didn't immediately say no and is studying this further.

Rough year for electoral reform

Nipissing University political scientist David Tabachnick isn't surprised city councils are voting against ranked ballots.

"Why are we giving the people elected under the old system the power to change that system which may result in them not getting elected next time?" Tabachnick said.

Any city or town that wants to change the ballot for next year's election, needs to pass a bylaw by May 1.

It's been a rough year so far for electoral reform, with the federal government also shelving plans to replace the first-past-the-post system.

Tabachnick said, while there is a vocal minority calling for change, he believes it ranks very low for most voters.

"I think there's clearly a disjuncture to some degree between what the public wants, expressing some dissatisfaction with how our politicians are elected and what those politicians are actually doing," he said.