A parliamentary committee is urging the government to amend federal election regulations to prevent prolonged ballot protests by electoral reform supporters. The Longest Ballot Committee, a group advocating for electoral reform, has fielded numerous candidates in over half a dozen electoral races in the last five years. Their actions have prompted Elections Canada to modify ballots, including producing ballots nearly a meter in length, leading to confusion among voters and delays in counting.
The procedures and House affairs committee issued a report on Tuesday proposing various changes to candidate eligibility rules. Currently, a candidate must obtain 100 signatures from voters in the riding to run in an election or byelection. The Longest Ballot Committee has previously had voters sign multiple nomination sheets.
The committee of MPs suggests making it a violation of the Canada Elections Act to sign more than one nomination form and explicitly stating on the forms that each voter can only endorse one candidate. Additionally, the report recommends making it illegal to influence a voter to sign multiple nomination forms, with penalties to be enforced, although specifics on the penalties are not detailed.
The committee’s recommendations come as the Longest Ballot Committee is fielding numerous candidates in an upcoming byelection in the Terrebonne riding near Montreal, with 48 candidates confirmed so far. The report proposes that rules be revised to allow an individual to act as an official agent for only one candidate per riding.
The group’s organizers advocate for a citizens’ assembly to oversee electoral reform, criticizing political parties for their reluctance to make the government more representative of the populace. They emphasize the use of distinct official agents for each candidate in Terrebonne and express readiness to confront the changes in signature requirements.
In a previous byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot, where over 200 candidates ran, Elections Canada employed write-in ballots instead of printing lengthy candidate lists. The federal election body plans to use write-in ballots again in Terrebonne.
The Bloc Québécois submitted a dissenting report opposing the proposal for unique signatures on nomination forms, arguing that it could restrict voter flexibility during an election campaign and potentially compromise ballot secrecy. The Bloc also raised concerns about the added burden on election officials to verify the number of signatures by each voter.