Longest Ballot Committee
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
[edit]
- 2021 Canadian federal election, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital: 21 candidate names on the ballot[7]
- 2022 Mississauga-Lakeshore federal by-election: 40 candidate names on the ballot[8]
- 2023 Winnipeg South Centre federal by-election: 48 candidate names on the ballot
- 2023 Kitchener Centre provincial by-election, 18 candidate names on the ballot[9]
- 2024 Toronto St. Paul's federal by-election: 84 candidate names on the ballot[10]
- 2024 LaSalle—Émard—Verdun federal by-election: 91 candidate names on the ballot[11]
Upcoming elections in which the Longest Ballot Committee plans to participate
[edit]- 2025 Canadian federal election, Carleton[12]
- 2025 Canadian federal election, University—Rosedale[12]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Elliott, Blair (April 19, 2023). "Horning In". Maisonneuve. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ Passifiume, Bryan (June 3, 2024). "Why Mitch Marner and Alberta have become big issues in a record-breaking Toronto byelection". The National Post. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ Passifiume, Bryan (December 27, 2023). "Long ballot activists planning to make short work of Toronto byelection". The National Post.
- ^ a b Tasker, John Paul (June 25, 2024). "Conservatives win longtime Liberal stronghold Toronto-St. Paul's in shock byelection result". CBC News. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ "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. June 19, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ Posted, Shannon Sampert (June 15, 2023). "Opinion: 48 candidates is no voting panacea". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ Kives, Bartley (September 3, 2021). "Rhino Party charges at broken Liberal promise by signing up independents to run in Manitoba riding". CBC. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ "Mississauga-Lakeshore byelection will have at least 40 candidates, a national record". www.ipolitics.ca. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ Bueckert, Kate (November 20, 2023). "18 people on the Kitchener Centre byelection ballot is a 'novelty' but will it result in more votes?". CBC. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ "List of candidates, Toronto--St. Paul's (Ontario)". elections.ca. Elections Canada. Archived from the original on June 25, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
- ^ "LaSalle—Émard—Verdun byelection will have record 91 candidates in a two-column ballot". montrealgazette.com. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
- ^ a b Longest Ballot Committee [@LongestBallot] (January 6, 2025). "🚨Announcing TWO longest ballots for 2025! [...]" (Tweet). Retrieved January 6, 2025 – via Twitter.
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