Cambridge councillor will continue pursuit of ranked-ballot voting

CAMBRIDGE — Coun. Jan Liggett will make a push for ranked-ballot voting for the 2022 municipal election, once a report is brought to Cambridge city council in the new year.

Liggett, who was voted in for a second term as the representative for Ward 4, was one of two councillors open to electoralreform talks when, two years ago, resident Ken Tuckey stated to council it was “undemocratic” not to have a referendum after a ranked-ballot system was voted down for the 2018 election.

Despite only 47 respondents — 31 people were in support of ranked ballots and 16 were against — after two public information sessions, an online survey, and telephone and in-person feedback, council decided to adopt the question on this year’s ballot.

For city council to pursue electoral reform after Oct. 22, at least 51 per cent of the votes had to be yes. For the referendum to be binding, not only did the yes votes have to be in the majority, but 50 per cent of the electorate had to vote.

The official count, released Wednesday, showed 13,488 voted in favour of a ranked ballot system, while 10,449 voted no. Total voter turnout was 32.2 per cent.

According to the city website, this means “the municipality and council may take the results under advisement and proceed on the matter as it chooses.” For Liggett, the choice is clear.

“I would have liked to have seen it Monday,” she said.

“If I had my way, we would have had ranked balloting this last election. I think the rest of council will (be for it).

“For me, when I look at the changes that have happened, with the election rules the province has brought in (no donations from companies and unions), I think that started the ball rolling toward there being less opportunity for corruption. So now, with this next goalpost, the municipalities can take it even further toward a holistic democracy.”

Liggett said it was important to keep the talk of ranked ballots going as the election gave voters an “appetite for discussion.” She pointed out changing the election platform would give voters the best chance to vote for policies instead of the person. If candidate A has policies that touch a family in one way, and candidate B’s policies are just as important to them, a ranked ballot vote could be made for both and either person being elected would be considered a win, she explained.

“With this and all the changes that have happened, you have a generation of people who can understand that there’s something wrong in our election process, and they’re starting to pay attention to it,” she said.

“That’s that generation that’s coming along. We have always had this in the background, a lot of us ... understand that there is something horribly wrong with our election process, so now it’s that joining of the people so you have the majority of the people who want to see that change happen.”

This is why Liggett was disappointed in the voter turnout to make the rankedballot question binding. She did admit there will never be a 50 per cent voter turnout in a municipal election unless voting became mandatory.

“They didn’t understand it. They were so busy trying to decide who to vote for they didn’t comprehend what ranked balloting is,” Liggett said.

City clerk Michael Di Lullo said the city did everything it could to educate people on the ranked-ballot system.

“We plugged social media, we advertised with (the Cambridge Times); we did as much as we could. Then we (were) just doing a neutral message, but I thought it was important to put something in the voting screen for people that went to the in-person voting,” Di Lullo said about the posters at actual polling stations.

While ranked balloting was the preferred electoral system chosen by voters, Di Lullo isn’t convinced, based on the results, that’s the best way to go. He said he “wasn’t there yet” on whether the city will recommend ranked balloting to council for the 2022 election.

“I’ll need to do some analysis and some research first, and then I’ll decide whether there will be a recommendation. It could just be information,” he said.

“The result was positive, which was good, but it wasn’t overwhelming, with 3,000 the difference. The other thing to consider is with 28,000 votes cast, there’s a lot of people who didn’t even answer the question, and that’s the thing that nobody’s talking about. That’s a message in itself.”

Whether the city recommends the ranked-ballot system or not, Yes, Cambridge! — a local group campaigning for ranked balloting — considers the vote a clear message to city council.

“I think we sent a signal, a very strong signal, to our federal government, as well as our provincial government … that people are fed up with first-past-the-post, and we want voter reform,” said Yes, Cambridge! spokesperson Marjorie Knight.

“This is the first step for us that we can use, and it can also show that people are ready and are really wanting a change in the way our voting procedures happen. I think if more and more of our cities pull in with this it sends a really strong message to the powers that be, that you know, people want change.”

Knight said using a ranked-ballot system would assure voters that the election winner has the overwhelming backing of residents.

“If somebody gets 50 per cent of the vote then we can be confident they are the people’s candidate,” she said.

“My problem is where you find somebody with 20 per cent of the vote, which could have happened here. That would be a problem and a travesty.

“It’s not getting 20 per cent of the vote and 100 per cent of the power.”

Knight added she is confident changing the electoral system will increase voter turnout.

She pointed to London, which became Canada’s first city to use ranked balloting for a municipal election this year. There was some excitement surrounding the landmark result, as Ed Holder won after 14 rounds of counting, 18 hours after the polls closed.

She said maybe change could spark the excitement in Cambridge, as voter turnout this year rose only four per cent from 2014.

“It’s awful, and it’s almost a tradition. I think that even if it’s just a novelty at first, it will increase votership. But I also think people become more engaged when they feel that their vote makes a difference.”