Open houses for ranked ballots in London this week

Londoners will share their thoughts this week on whether they want to change the way members of city council are elected.

Open houses are taking place on March 8 and 9 at multiple locations to discuss the possibility of changing municipal elections from first past the post to a ranked ballot. A ranked ballot would allow voters to place candidates in their order of preference. A candidate would need to get at least 50 per cent of the vote to win.

“It’s the most important thing that citizens do in the municipal election cycle, is making that election of who is going to represent them,” said Coun. Josh Morgan.

“The method by which we do that is obviously a critical decision that needs to have significant public engagement and public feedback.”

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Legislation requires the municipality to hold public open houses. The public will have an opportunity to review and ask questions about ranked ballot voting, the costs involved, how votes will be collected and counted.

“Londoners who can come out and participate and let us know their thoughts, and if they can’t participate in one of the meetings that have been set up, then email your councillor, send in the information on what you think about this, so we have as much information as possible before we decide on how we’re going to proceed,” said Morgan.

READ MORE: Londoners to weigh in on switching to ranked ballot system at open house meetings

Meetings are taking place on Wednesday, March 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the North London Optimist Community Centre, 1345 Cheapside St., and at the Medway Community Centre, 119 Sherwood Forest Square. Two additional meetings are taking place on Thursday, March 9 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Earl Nichols Arena meeting room, 799 Homeview Rd., and at the Stronach Community Centre, 1221 Sanford St. Information will be presented at 6:30 p.m. at all meetings.

Another public meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 22 at 11 a.m.

A decision on whether to move to the new system has to be made by May 1 if the city wants ranked ballots to be in place for next year’s municipal election. If the city chooses to switch, it would be the first city in the province to do so. The change would come at a cost of around $322,000, according to city staff.