Longest Ballot Committee Explained

The Longest Ballot Committee is a political movement in Canada, at one time affiliated with the Rhinoceros Party,[1] known for flooding ballots with a large number of independent candidates in protest of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting system and other electoral reform related issues.[2] The group has gained national attention, most notably during the 2022 Mississauga—Lakeshore federal by-election, the 2023 Winnipeg South Centre federal by-election,[3] and the 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's federal by-election.

The committee's actions have prompted amendments to election laws to accommodate a greater number of names on the ballots[4] and generated significant controversy.[5]

In the June 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's federal by-election, it took hours for Elections Canada workers to count all the ballots. While polls closed at 8:30 p.m. ET, the final results weren't known until about 4:30 a.m. The agency said it was bogged down because there were dozens of candidates on the unwieldy, nearly metre-long ballot — some of whom were proportional representation activists running as a protest to the country's first-past-the-post voting system.[6]

Elections in which the Longest Ballot Committee participated

  1. 2021 Canadian federal election, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital: 21 candidate names on the ballot[7]
  2. 2022 Mississauga-Lakeshore federal by-election: 40 candidate names on the ballot[8]
  3. 2023 Winnipeg South Centre federal by-election: 48 candidate names on the ballot
  4. 2023 Kitchener Centre provincial by-election, 18 candidate names on the ballot[9]
  5. 2024 Toronto St. Paul's federal by-election: 84 candidate names on the ballot[10]
  6. 2024 LaSalle—Émard—Verdun federal by-election: 91 candidate names on the ballot[11]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Elliott . Blair . 2023-04-19 . Horning In . 2024-06-09 . Maisonneuve . en.
  2. News: Passifiume . Bryan . 2024-06-03 . Why Mitch Marner and Alberta have become big issues in a record-breaking Toronto byelection . 2024-06-09 . The National Post.
  3. News: Passifiume . Bryan . 2023-12-27 . Long ballot activists planning to make short work of Toronto byelection . The National Post.
  4. Web site: 2024-06-19 . 17-B-2023-02 – Adaptations to ensure that the names of all candidates can appear on the ballot and to bring related amendments to voting procedures and counting votes . 2024-06-09 . Elections Canada.
  5. Web site: Posted . Shannon Sampert . 2023-06-15 . Opinion: 48 candidates is no voting panacea . 2024-06-09 . Winnipeg Free Press . en-US.
  6. News: Tasker . John Paul . Conservatives win longtime Liberal stronghold Toronto-St. Paul's in shock byelection result . 25 June 2024 . CBC News . 25 June 2024.
  7. News: Kives . Bartley . 2021-09-03 . Rhino Party charges at broken Liberal promise by signing up independents to run in Manitoba riding . 2024-06-09 . CBC.
  8. Web site: Mississauga-Lakeshore byelection will have at least 40 candidates, a national record . 2024-06-09 . www.ipolitics.ca . en.
  9. News: Bueckert . Kate . 2023-11-20 . 18 people on the Kitchener Centre byelection ballot is a 'novelty' but will it result in more votes? . 2024-06-09 . CBC.
  10. Web site: List of candidates, Toronto--St. Paul's (Ontario). 2024-06-09. elections.ca. Elections Canada. https://web.archive.org/web/20240625165012/https://www.elections.ca/Scripts/vis/candidates?L=e&ED=35090&EV=58&EV_TYPE=3&PROV=ON&PROVID=35&QID=-1&PAGEID=17. live. 2024-06-25.
  11. Web site: LaSalle—Émard—Verdun byelection will have record 91 candidates in a two-column ballot. 2024-09-10 . montrealgazette.com . en.

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