OPINION: Making Elections Matter

Courtesy TheMarkNews.com

In 1991, I decided to take the bold step of running for public office. I wanted to give back to the community that had given me so much. I took the plunge and filed my nomination papers, but I was forbidden to put my name on the ballot by the regulatory body. More specifically, my vice-principal said my marks were too low. I was 17, and running for student council president.

The administration told me students required an average grade of above 70 per cent to run in the election. Being a teenager, I was outraged and defiant. In my mind, students with low grades probably had more free time to contribute to council, since they clearly weren’t studying. I published an underground paper that featured a front-page story about our high school’s democratic deficit, and I began to circulate a petition demanding fair access to elections. I gathered 300 signatures, but the administration was not to be swayed and democracy was denied.

Almost 20 years later, I’m running another campaign for voting reform. But this time I’m setting my sites on city council rather than student council. The project, Better Ballots, is a city-wide multi-partisan dialogue exploring our municipal voting system to identify potential improvements that could make Toronto’s elections more participatory, diverse, and fair.

We began our project by identifying four concrete signs that point towards an ailing local democracy. The first ailment is our municipal voter turnout. At less than 40 per cent, it’s significantly lower that provincial or federal turnouts and illustrates the disappointing reality that the vast majority of Toronto’s residents are not participating at all in choosing their local representatives.

The second indicator is turnover. On average, only one sitting councillor is defeated in each Toronto election. With elections held every four years, that means we have only two or three defeated incumbents per decade.

The third problem is diversity. Only 22 per cent of Toronto’s city council is made up of female councillors, and a disappointing 11 per cent are visible minorities, even though the population of the city has four times that percentage.

The fourth problem is fairness. The absence of either a run-off system or a proportional model allows candidates to win their seat even if most voters oppose them. In fact, in 2006, 14 councillors won their seat with less than 50 per cent of the vote. The lowest was 20 per cent.

So, what are the cures to our ailments? We’re not sure, but we’ve got a few ideas. Better Ballots is exploring the possible benefits and drawbacks of about a dozen potential electoral reforms, including term limits, ranked ballots, multi-member districts, municipal parties, a lower voting age, weekend voting, and other mechanisms that could perhaps improve our electoral experience. Each options brings with it ramifications that can be seen as negative or positive depending on your point of view. The only way to determine what could work for Toronto is to have a city-wide open dialogue with as many participants as possible. Through education and discussion, we can begin to chart a course for electoral reform.

Working with partners such as the Canadian Urban Institute, the Maytree Foundation, Toronto Community Foundation, and the Toronto City Summit Alliance, Better Ballots will be hosting a series of public forums in April and May, followed by a mayoral debate on the topic of voting reform.

In 1991, I wasn’t able to reform democracy at my high school. But I have a feeling that Better Ballots stands a much better chance of achieving its goal: making elections matter in Toronto. A properly functioning municipal democracy, with fair and diverse results and increased participation, would benefit our city and help us collectively make the difficult decisions that need to be made to maintain Toronto as the sustainable, safe, vibrant, and prosperous city that we proudly call home.

The Mark is Canada’s online forum for opinion and analysis.