FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2014
At least 27 Ottawa City Council candidates, including three incumbents, support changing the City of Ottawa’s electoral system to the Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) system in time for the 2018 municipal election. Incumbent councillors supporting the initiative are David Chernushenko (Capital), Mathieu Fleury (Rideau-Vanier), and Marianne Wilkinson (Kanata North). The complete to-date list of candidates endorsing Ranked Choice Voting is below.
Local voting reform organization, Ottawa123, expects the list of candidates to grow as the municipal election campaign moves forward. The group has also launched a petition addressed to all City Council candidates urging them to commit to exploring RCV for the City of Ottawa if elected. The petition can be found at https://ottawa123.ca/petition. Ottawa123 is aiming to reach 1000 signatures before election day.
“The more people find out about Ranked Choice Voting, the more they like what they hear,” says Ottawa123 spokesperson Colum Grove-White. “This includes many of our candidates, who are realizing that our current system does not really serve the diverse needs of our communities.”
Of the incumbent candidates endorsing RCV, both Chernushenko and Fleury won with less than 50% of the vote in 2010. “I think it takes quite a lot of courage for candidates who benefit from the current system to come out and say ‘Hey, even though I won, this isn’t fair,’” says Grove-White.
Ottawa123 advocates for the RCV system (also known as ranked ballots) which allows voters to rank their candidate in order of preference. If no candidate is elected with a majority of the vote (fifty percent plus one), then the candidate with the least votes is eliminated. Voters’ second choices are then counted instead of their first. This process of elimination and counting is repeated until a candidate wins with at least 50% of the votes. For more information on the mechanics of Ranked Choice Voting, check out the Ottawa123 website, or try our online voting simulator.
Ranked Choice Voting has many benefits and is used by hundreds of cities across the United States, England, Australia and New Zealand. RCV would eliminate of vote-splitting and reduce instances strategic voting. RCV will also make our elections more friendly and focused on good ideas for the City of Ottawa.
In the coming months, the Liberal government in Queen’s Park is expected to introduce legislation to amend the Municipal Elections Act (MEA) to allow cities like Ottawa to make the change to Ranked Choice Voting in time for the 2018 municipal elections. The Ontario Liberals ran on the promise to open up the MEA in their platform last June. The RCV campaign is not unique to Ottawa as it is also building in cities across Ontario, including Toronto, London, Sudbury, and Barrie.
Ottawa123 is a non-partisan group of volunteers who believe that voting reform will improve the quality of Ottawa’s democracy by making elections more fair, friendly, and diverse.
Candidates who have endorsed Ranked Choice Voting thus far:
Mayor: Syed Anwar
Ward 4 (Kanata North): Matt Muirhead, Marianne Wilkinson (incumbent)
Ward 6 (Stittsville): David Lee
Ward 7 (Bay): Alex Cullen, Michael Pastien
Ward 8 (College): Craig MacAulay
Ward 11 (Beacon Hill-Cyrville): Nicolas Séguin
Ward 12 (Rideau-Vanier): Marc Aubin, Mathieu Fleury (incumbent), Catherine Fortin LeFaivre
Ward 13 (Rideau-Rockcliffe): Cam Holmstrom, Tobi Nussbaum, Penny Thompson
Ward 14 (Somerset): Martin Canning, Catherine McKenney, Thomas McVeigh, Conor Meade, Silviu Riley
Ward 15 (Kitchissippi): Jeff Leiper, Michelle Reimer
Ward 16 (River): Vanessa Sutton
Ward 17 (Capital): David Chernushenko (incumbent)
Ward 19 (Cumberland): Marc Belisle
Ward 20 (Osgoode): George Darouze, Marc Sharfe
Ward 22 (Gloucester-South Nepean): Scott Hodge