Just over 4 years ago, you made history. Today, we're asking you to do it again.

Back in 2015, it wasn’t even legal for municipalities in Ontario to use ranked ballots. But, by flooding the provincial government’s online consultation portal with supportive emails, supporters of voting reform like you pushed the government into changing the law. Because of that, three communities in Ontario have used, or soon will use, ranked ballots in their elections.

From now until 26 July, we have a similar opportunity here in Toronto.

Right now, a committee of Toronto City Council called the Special Committee on Governance is conducting a public consultation on how Toronto’s governance system should be reformed. Once this consultation is finished, this committee will make a number of important decisions that will impact how governance reform proceeds here in Toronto. It is critical that the members of this committee understand just how strongly the public wants ranked ballots while they are making these decisions.       

Please take a couple minutes to contact the Special Committee on Governance and tell them that you support ranked ballots.  

There are 2 ways you can do so. The easiest is to send a short email to [email protected]. Put Special Committee on Governance Consultation Submission in the subject line and then briefly explain why you think that adopting ranked ballots needs to be a part of any governance reform undertaken in Toronto. Please write the email so that it’s in your own words, but remember to explain why using ranked ballots would improve governance in Toronto. Some of the arguments that RaBIT has been using to make this point are that ranked ballots:

• Will improve the representativeness of city council which will result in decision-making that better represents Torontonians
• Will improve the fairness of elections which will make city decision-making processes more legitimate
• Will incentivize more solutions-focused and civil politics which will help to make city decision-making more effective and efficient

Please be sure to send this email by the submission deadline of Friday, 26 July. 

The Special Committee on Governance is also conducting a survey as part of their public consultation process. If you would like to provide more general comments on Toronto’s governance system, please feel free to fill out this survey as well. There isn’t a question specifically about ranked ballots on the survey, but if you choose to fill it out, there are good opportunities on the 1^st, 2^nd, and final questions on the third page of the survey (the first page with questions) to express your support for ranked ballots by writing that support into the fillable free text fields.

If you choose to fill out the survey, please submit your responses by Friday, 26 July.

Thanks for taking the time to participate in this consultation and for helping push ranked ballots forward once again.