In Edmonton's last election (2017), seven councillors (out of 12 in total) were elected with only a minority of the votes in their wards.
In most of these wards a combination of only two other candidates' votes, if it have been made possible and if voters had voted that way, would have overwhelmed the leaders' lead, and in those cases if they happened they would have seen someone with more general support be elected to represent the ward residents on council.
Here are the stats:
Ward 1
winner Andrew Knack got 69 p.c. of the vote 31 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Ward 2
winner Bev Esslinger got 55 percent of the vote 45 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Ward 3
winner Jon Dziadyk got 30 percent of the vote 70 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Ward 4
winner Aaron Paquette got 24 p.c. of the vote 76 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Ward 5
winner Sarah Hamilton got 36 p.c. of the vote 64 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Ward 6
winner Scott McKeen got 51 p.c. of the vote 49 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Ward 7
winner Tony Caterina got 34 percent of the vote 66 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Ward 8
winner Ben Henderson got 37 p.c. of the vote 63 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Ward 9
winner Tim Cartmell got 42 p.c. of the vote 58 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Ward 10
winner Michael Walters got 60 p.c. of the vote 40 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Ward 11
winner Mike Nickel got 56 p.c. of the vote 44 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Ward 12
winner Moe Banga got 46 p.c. of the vote 54 p.c. of the voters were disregarded
Thus in wards 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 12, councillors were elected who did not have support of a majority of the voters.
In more than half the wards, councillors were elected by an average of only 36 percent of the voters in their ward.
Thus almost two-thirds of the votes in more than half the wards were totally wasted.
In the other five wards an average of 58 percent of the votes elected the five councillors, thus seeing the waste of more than a third of the votes in those wards.
This waste of votes over all the 12 wards amounted to 105,000 votes while the successful candidates altogether received only 86,000 votes. Thus, more than half the votes cast were totally disregarded.
As well, Edmonton municipal elections suffer from low turn-outs. The 2017 city election saw only 200,000 vote out of 600,000 eligible voters, a turn-out of only 33 percent. This low turn-out may be due to the large number of votes that are disregarded even of those that are cast.
In one ward, only 16,000 votes were cast. This is an amazingly low number when the ward is said to cover one-twelfth of the city. If seven wards were that size, seven candidates could take a majority of seats on council with only 60,000 votes, a majority in each of the 7 wards. 60,000 voters could thus control a city hall governing a city with almost 1 million residents.
This is unfair - undemocratic - and is something that needs to change.
An easy solution is to
combine a group of seven wards into one multi-member ward (perhaps named A) and to combine the other five into another multi-member district (perhaps named B)
and to allow each voter to cast only one vote.
the leading candidates in A and the leading five candidates in B will be elected.
in each new ward,
no one group will take all the seats,
The most popular in each ward will be elected. And with only two wards, the most popular across the city will mostly be elected. With only two separate election contests, popularity will be judged with much more fairness than today when 12 separate election contests are conducted.
With only two separate election contests, voters will have chance to vote for any candidate running in one half the city instead of just in one/twelfth of the city as now.
Much fewer votes will be wasted. A majority of voters in each ward would likely see their choice elected.
Wider range of candidates offered to voters, more mixed representation, less waste, more fairness - both in appearance and in reality, there is no downside to this solution.
Thanks for reading.
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