The Pledge

In the run up to the 2018 Toronto municipal election, RaBIT is building a coalition of candidates who support switching to ranked ballots for Toronto's municipal elections. This coalition is being built around the following ranked ballots Candidate Pledge which we are asking candidates running for city council and mayor to sign:

Preamble

In 2016, all 444 of Ontario’s municipalities gained the ability to adopt a ranked ballot voting system for their municipal elections.

Other communities in Ontario like London, Kingston, and Cambridge have either already adopted ranked ballots or are taking steps to educate and consult their voters about them.

I believe that ranked ballots are a small, simple change to our electoral system that will make our politics more fair, diverse, inclusive, and friendly.

The Pledge

As a candidate in the 2018 Toronto election, I pledge that, if elected, I will support, advance, and vote in favour of those actions required for ranked ballots to be used in the 2022 Toronto elections.

The Details

As part of our pledge campaign, RaBIT is contacting candidates running in the 2018 Toronto municipal election. This includes the races for mayor and city councillor. We have provided each of these candidates with information about ranked ballots and about our candidate pledge campaign and offered to answer any questions they may have. We have also asked these candidates if they would sign on to the Candidate Pledge.

As candidates respond, we are adding their responses to webpages dedicated to each of the races in the election. (We have also created a single webpage for candidates for school trustee to also make their support for ranked ballots known, even though it is not yet possible for school board elections to be conducted using ranked ballots.)

The Report Card

Those candidates who have signed the pledge have been marked as having taken the pledge and have been offered space on the appropriate webpage to explain why they have decided to support ranked ballots. Those candidates who have declined to sign or have not responded to our invitation to take the pledge have been marked as having not taken the pledge.

Additionally, for those candidates who are incumbents, we have also provided a ranked ballot Report Card. This report card provides a factual summary of these incumbent candidates' voting records on the two city council votes that have been taken on ranked ballots in the past term [2015.EX8.1 (M6) and 2016 EX.20.5 (M1b)]. For those candidates who sit on the city’s executive committee, their vote on the motion on ranked ballots that came before that committee is also included in the report card [2016 EX.20.5 (M1) - Note, you need to go all the way to the bottom of the page to get to the pertinent Executive Committee meeting minutes]. 

If you have any questions concerning the ranked ballot Candidate Pledge, or are a candidate who would like to take the pledge, please do not hesitate to get in touch with RaBIT at [email protected].