Township maintains first-past-the-post elections

=Guelph-Eramosa is maintaining its first-past-the-post election model for the 2018 municipal election.

“We’ll learn from other municipalities who choose to implement ranked ballots in 2018 to better understand the costs, the experience of the elector and how to address any identified challenges at this point,” township clerk Meaghen Reid told council on Nov. 21.

A ranked ballot would allow the voter to rank candidates in order of preference.

This is different from the first-past-the-post model, which allows the voter to choose one candidate only.

“With a ranked ballot election, there may be multiple rounds of counting before a candidate is declared a winner,” Reid stated in a written report.

In the case of ward elections, “all votes are counted and if a candidate receives more than 50% of the first place ranking they are named the winner,” Reid wrote.

“If a candidate has not reached a majority, the last place candidate is eliminated and the remaining votes are distributed. This continues until a candidate reaches a majority.”

However, there are no case studies and the costs associated with a ranked ballot system are unknown, Reid explained. Also, school board trustees will still be elected through a first-past-the-post system so two or more vote count methods would be required in a ranked ballot election.

Guelph-Eramosa will continue with first-past-the-post in 2018 and revaluate after seeing case studies about the ranked ballot method from other municipalities, Reid recommended.

Council approved the recommendation.