Vancouver city council introduces randomized ballot order for October municipal election

Casting a ballot in October’s Vancouver municipal election will require more hunting and pecking after city council decided Wednesday to do away with alphabetical listing of names on ballots.

The city voted to direct an extra $225,000 — $175,000 on communication and another $60,000 on additional staff at voting places — toward its 2018 election budget to introduce a randomized name order on ballots for city council and park board candidates in the Oct. 20 election.

A staff report stated numerous electoral studies suggest ordering candidates alphabetically undermines the principle of fair elections.

“There is a long-standing collection of empirical evidence demonstrating that voters without well-defined preferences are more likely to select the top-listed names on ballots due to cognitive fatigue,” the report said.

Other Canadians cities that have implemented a randomized ballot system include Calgary, Winnipeg, White Rock, Dawson Creek, Fort St. John and Langley Township.

The staff report said it’s expected a randomized ballot order will lead to longer wait times at voting places as many voters will take a longer time to locate and vote for their desired candidates.

Voters without welldefined preferences are more likely to select the top-listed names on ballots due to cognitive fatigue.”

Vancouver staff report