Councillor troubled ranked ballot referendum may be meaningless

CAMBRIDGE — Fans of ranked voting shouldn’t get too excited.

Yes, on Halloween Night, Cambridge city council unanimously approved a question to appear on the 2018 municipal ballot asking if city voters are in favour of switching from the traditional first-past-the-post ballots to ranked ballots for 2022.

But those referendum results, yea or nay, will almost certainly be toothless.

“I don’t believe it,” Coun. Mike Devine said. “That’s ridiculous.”

No, it’s true, assured city clerk Michael Di Lullo. If Cambridge doesn’t get a 50 per cent voter turnout next Oct. 22, the results won’t be binding. Not even if ranked ballots — which can take into account voters’ second and third choices and so on — get approval from more than half of voters who do show up.

Last election, Cambridge pulled in only a 30 per cent turnout.

“In order for a referendum to be valid, at least 50 per cent of the eligible electors in a municipality have to vote on voting day,” Di Lullo said.

So the simple, 20-word question headed for municipal ballots in less than a year — Are you in favour of the City of Cambridge using a ranked ballot voting system for the

2022 municipal election? — may be an exercise, costs to be determined, in irrelevancy.

“It’s not logical. It’s insane,” Devine said after the meeting. “It should be 50 per cent of the people who voted, plus one.”

But the city clerk assures, it isn’t. If the province doesn’t approve of the question that city council rubber-stamped on trickor-treat Tuesday, the question might not even appear on the ballot after all. The referendum could be vetoed in a minister’s office.

But if it does appear, it still has value to Mayor Doug Craig.

“What it does is, it gives an indication to the next council,” Craig said. “And then we take that indication and then we have more validity in the future if we want to change things.”

So what’s the big selling point of a ranked system? It makes sure the winning candidate gets elected with a majority of the vote. If the leader gets more than 50 per cent of the votes in the first count — Craig got 53 per cent in taking his fifth term in 2014 — he or she wins. If not, the lowest vote-getter is eliminated and second choices come into play. This process continues until the winner has a majority.

A year ago, Waterloo and Cambridge both voted against introducing ranked ballots for 2018. Kitchener followed their dismissive lead in time for last Valentine’s Day. London is the only Ontario municipally to used ranked ballots next election.

But Cambridge is still exploring the matter with a referendum question for 2018. The problem is, the results won’t settle anything unless voter turnout is 50 per cent.

“What it means is, the likelihood of any referendum in Ontario passing is pretty remote,” Craig said.

Which left at least one city councillor rankled.

“I can see why they’re making pot legal,” Devine said.