Longest Ballot Committee

Commemorative pin given to candidates in the 2022 Mississauga—Lakeshore and 2023 Winnipeg South Centre by-elections

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.[4]

The committee's actions have prompted amendments to election laws to accommodate a greater number of names on the ballots[5] and generated significant controversy.[6]

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.[4]

Elections in which the Longest Ballot Committee participated

Ballot for the 2024 Toronto by-election
  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

References

  1. ^ Elliott, Blair (2023-04-19). "Horning In". Maisonneuve. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  2. ^ Passifiume, Bryan (2024-06-03). "Why Mitch Marner and Alberta have become big issues in a record-breaking Toronto byelection". The National Post. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  3. ^ Passifiume, Bryan (2023-12-27). "Long ballot activists planning to make short work of Toronto byelection". The National Post.
  4. ^ a b Tasker, John Paul (25 June 2024). "Conservatives win longtime Liberal stronghold Toronto-St. Paul's in shock byelection result". CBC News. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  5. ^ "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". Elections Canada. 2024-06-19. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  6. ^ Posted, Shannon Sampert (2023-06-15). "Opinion: 48 candidates is no voting panacea". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  7. ^ Kives, Bartley (2021-09-03). "Rhino Party charges at broken Liberal promise by signing up independents to run in Manitoba riding". CBC. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  8. ^ "Mississauga-Lakeshore byelection will have at least 40 candidates, a national record". www.ipolitics.ca. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  9. ^ Bueckert, Kate (2023-11-20). "18 people on the Kitchener Centre byelection ballot is a 'novelty' but will it result in more votes?". CBC. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  10. ^ "List of candidates, Toronto--St. Paul's (Ontario)". elections.ca. Elections Canada. Archived from the original on 2024-06-25. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  11. ^ "LaSalle—Émard—Verdun byelection will have record 91 candidates in a two-column ballot". montrealgazette.com. Retrieved 2024-09-10.


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