The bill that will open the door to ranked ballots for local elections in Ontario passed second reading at Queen’s Park last Tuesday, a mere two weeks after its introduction!

If Bill 181 -- The Municipal Elections Modernization Act -- passes, it will be historic legislation, offering the opportunity for Toronto, and other Ontario towns and cities, to abandon the outdated first-past-the post voting system currently used for elections at every level of government in Canada. We are beyond excited at the prospect of seeing the beginning of the end of first-past-the-post, and the start of something fairer and more inclusive for our city.

Bill 181 is now with the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, which will finalize the details. If the committee passes the bill, it will head back to the legislature for its final reading and vote. (Learn more about how bills become law in Ontario.)

The closer Bill 181 gets to passage, the closer Toronto is to the opportunity to introduce a fairer and more inclusive voting system in our city! Yet another recent poll shows two-thirds of Torontonians support ranked ballots for local elections. We have to wonder, are our politicians listening to us?

Given the shameful backtracking at City Hall last October, right now the answer is no. But, with the help of RaBIT’s two thousand-plus supporters, we can turn this situation around.

RaBIT is 100% powered by volunteers - each and every supporter is essential to the success of this campaign to bring a better municipal voting system to Toronto. If you are interested in getting involved, in the coming weeks and months, we will spread the word about some specific opportunities to take action. In the meantime, we could use money to do everything from organizing events in the community, to printing written materials for public education,  to launching our dream project of setting up neighbourhood organizing teams made up of supporters like you, to lead this campaign moving forward.

Could you chip in $5, $10, or $50 dollars -- or however much you can afford -- to help us build local volunteer campaign teams in Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke, as well as downtown? This is the future of RaBIT, and we need your help to make it happen.

With your continued support, we look forward to seeing this important legislation through, and bringing Toronto together to make our elections more fair and friendly.