{"id":14267,"date":"2010-09-30T14:00:07","date_gmt":"2010-09-30T18:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=14267"},"modified":"2013-01-21T13:11:43","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T18:11:43","slug":"electoral-reform-its-all-about-voter-turnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2010\/09\/30\/electoral-reform-its-all-about-voter-turnout\/","title":{"rendered":"Electoral reform: it’s all about voter turnout"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

We in Toronto are blessed with an electoral system that is the envy of many people worldwide, who cannot vote at all, or who do so in an environment that is far from free and democratic. Still, one could hardly call our first-past-the-post format perfect.<\/p>\n

Less than 40% of eligible voters turned out in the 2006 Toronto municipal elections. In the same election, 14 candidates won their seats in wards where most of the voters did not choose them. New faces are rare, and rarer still are councillors who represent the gender balance and ethnic diversity of this city.<\/p>\n

As election season hits high gear, there is a growing chorus of Torontonians who are speaking up about the ways that our electoral system is broken and how it could be re-invigorated. These individuals have started a vital discussion and pushed reform onto the mainstream agenda. While the changes they propose will not alter the ballot on October 25, the reformers have tapped into a hunger for change in this city; an appetite they expect will grow long after the ballots have been counted.<\/p>\n

Feeding this hunger has been the greatest success of the Better Ballots<\/a> initiative, says Rob Newman, its project lead. The group has facilitated a non-partisan discussion about voting reform options that is spurring on a new generation of civic activists.<\/p>\n

Newman describes the Better Ballot\u2019s approach: \u201cWe\u2019re not picking winners, we\u2019re opening up the discussion. Any one of these suggestions could be part of the solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a series of town hall meetings and a mayoral candidates forum this spring, Better Ballots presented 14 options successfully implemented in other jurisdictions including weekend voting (Montreal), municipal parties (Vancouver<\/a>), online and phone voting (Markham<\/a>), proportional representation (Cambridge, Mass.<\/a>), lowering the voting age (Brazil<\/a>) and ranked ballots (San Francisco<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople understand the options we\u2019re proposing,\u201d says Newman. \u201cOver 300 people said they wanted to volunteer to see these changes through.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the mayoral forum raised the issue of electoral reform to the next level by giving these options legitimacy, Newman sees Better Ballot\u2019s grassroots approach as its most effective strategy. \u201cVoting is only half of democracy; discussing, debating, and participating is the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

To facilitate this action, Better Ballots is now serving as a clearing house to connect like-minded people interested in various methods of electoral reform. Providing capacity-building support to burgeoning groups and new energy to existing organizations, Better Ballots is helping to create a movement.<\/p>\n

Two-year-old iVote Toronto<\/a> is one organization who has benefited from the energy of projects like Better Ballots. New volunteers are getting fired up about iVote\u2019s message: Toronto can be a more inclusive and representative city by extending voting eligibility to permanent residents.<\/p>\n

Over 200,000 permanent resident non-citizens live in Toronto, pay taxes, and send their children to school but cannot vote since landed immigrants must wait three years before they are eligible for Canadian citizenship.<\/p>\n

Campaign Coordinator Leo Zuniga sees this waiting period as a lost opportunity to offer newcomers a sense of belonging and get them involved in their city. \u201cCitizenship is a journey that begins within neighbourhoods,\u201d says Zuniga. \u201cSadly, neighbourhoods with a high proportion of newcomers are disproportionately low voting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immigration has been a contentious issue in this year\u2019s campaign, yet voting for non-citizens is the norm in jurisdictions in over 30 countries including the United States<\/a>, Great Britain<\/a> and Australia<\/a>. iVote Toronto is working hard to build its coalition of supporters by engaging as many people as possible. It has found support with over 17<\/span> 70 newcomer agencies including the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office<\/a> and Central Neighbourhood House,<\/a> as well as mayoral candidates Joe Pantalone and Rocco Achampong.<\/p>\n

While Zuniga does not anticipate tangible changes to this year\u2019s voter list, he is looking forward to 2014 when he hopes the provincial government will step in to make changes to the Municipal Elections Act.<\/em><\/p>\n

Change is slow in coming. But the number of people fired up about engaging with and improving our electoral system is a hopeful sign of things to come.<\/p>\n

Photo by John Manoogian III<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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