Item - 2014.GM32.31

The Government Management Committee referred the item to the City Clerk with the request that she investigate the cost to extend the life cycle of the existing voting machines for an additional one term, two term or three terms of City Council and report to the Government Management Committee in 2015.

City Council on June 10, 11, 12 and 13, 2014, referred Motion MM52.11 to the Government Management Committee.

In June 2013, Council passed a motion by a wide margin (25 to 16) requesting that the provincial government pass legislation permitting the City of Toronto to use ranked ballots and instant runoff voting in municipal elections. A decision to introduce ranked ballots would promote positive campaigns, encourage a wider discussion on City issues during municipal elections, uphold the principles of majority rule and ‘one person, one vote’, and ensure that voters were confident that their vote reflected how they want the City to move forward.

In the event that the City of Toronto adopts a ranked ballot voting system, the necessary hardware and software must be in place to deliver an election using ranked ballots. The City Clerk’s Office will need to prepare for and include in the scope of election-related projects outlined in the Capital Plan, Council’s request to the province for having the ability to use ranked-ballot elections.

To have the systems in place for the 2018 Municipal Elections, all necessary certified hardware and software to implement ranked choice voting to allow voters to mark and have their ballots recorded according to the specific needs of ranked choice voting methods will have to be implemented.

The system will be required to: allow voters the ability to give a unique ranking to at least three (3) candidates, be ready to utilize ballots containing ranked choice contests, vote-for-one contests as well as ballot questions on the same ballot card. The system must also be able to reject ballots that give more than one candidate a first choice ranking.

The voting system should report a contest cast vote record for each contest showing every choice or ranking made by each voter on his/her ballot, and export these records in a common database format, such as a comma delimited text file, that can be tabulated according to the ranked ballot voting method algorithm by the system as well as by independent software that can read such files.

If the voting system lacks the export functionality, it will be able to tabulate the results internally according to the specific needs of ranked choice voting methods.