The minister of municipal affairs will bring in legislation to permit towns and cities to employ ranked balloting in their civic elections. Sadly, Toronto has turned its back on this concept. The council voted last October in a breathtaking reversal of a committment to democratic reform to stay with the present first past the post system. In simple terms, ranked ballots permit voters to have two choices for an offiice, first and second. This then permits a run off count so that the ultimate victor has a true majority of the vote. It is quite common in local elections, and elsewhere, for candidates to be elected with as little as 30 percent of the ballots cast. CBC City Council backs away from ranked ballots for 2018
