Toronto council endorses proposals to make voting easier

Councillors passed several motions on Tuesday aimed at making voting easier and more accessible in Toronto, namely allowing permanent residents to vote, using ranked voting and allowing people with disabilities to cast ballots online.

Council did not agree with the idea of holding elections on weekends.

“Modernizing elections is important in response to societal expectations and technological advancements,” city manager Joe Pennachetti and city clerk Ulli Watkiss said in a report to the government management committee in April.

“In administering the election, the clerk must balance the need to make elections accessible to all electors, maintain integrity in the process and carefully manage costs.”

Here’s a breakdown of the changes council approved and next steps.

Extending the vote to permanent residents

On Tuesday, council agreed to ask Queen’s Park — specifically the minister of municipal affairs and housing — to amend the Municipal Elections Act (MEA) to allow permanent residents to vote in Toronto.

This would also allow permanent residents to run for office according to the definition of “candidate” in the City of Toronto Act and the Education Act. Currently, anyone who can vote can also be elected or hold a seat in council and on school boards.

“Toronto’s permanent residents are active members of the city and their communities,” Pennachetti and Watkiss said.

“These residents contribute to the financial viability of Toronto as property taxpayers and consumers of city programs with user fees, without representation.”

Next steps: Council will write to the province to request the changes, which won’t happen in time for next year’s election.

Ranked voting

Councillors agreed to Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam’s motion asking Queen’s Park to change the MEA to allow for ranked choice voting, which would ensure the winner is chosen by the majority.

Under this system — already in place in cities like London, England, and San Francisco — voters would rank candidates in order of preference, and if the 50-per-cent threshold isn’t met in the first round, a series of runoff elections would take place until it is.

Next steps: Council will ask the province for changes to the MEA and a review of how it would affect other laws. The city would need to source new voting equipment to accommodate the changes. This wouldn’t happen before the 2014 election.

Online voting

Council voted on Tuesday to not only explore online voting for people with disabilities, but to also have it ready for the next election.

There are still concerns about privacy and security, and Internet voting wouldn’t be available for the general population until the 2018 election at the earliest.

Next steps: The city clerk will form a working group aimed at implementing Internet voting for people with disabilities for the 2014 election. According to the MEA, council can pass a bylaw allowing voters to use alternate methods.

For the general population, the clerk will continue to monitor privacy, security, accessibility and reliability of Internet voting and report back to council by November 2015.

For background on the reforms, click here.

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