More than 200 candidates, mostly associated with a group of electoral reform advocates, have signed up to run in an upcoming federal byelection next month. The number more than doubles the previous record on a single ballot.
Former Alberta MP Damien Kurek vacated his seat in Battle River-Crowfoot to give Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre a chance to rejoin the House of Commons. Poilievre lost his longtime Carleton riding in April’s general election.
A group known as the Longest Ballot Committee has been organizing candidates to run in byelections in recent years in an effort to push for electoral reform.
The committee’s organizers want to put a citizens’ assembly in charge of electoral reform and say political parties are too reluctant to make government more representative of the electorate.
As of Sunday evening, 209 candidates had registered to run in Battle River-Crowfoot, exceeding than committee’s goal of 200.
That’s more than double the previous record of 91 which has occurred twice in the past year: during a byelection in LaSalle-Emard-Verdun last September and Carleton during the last general election.
That number of candidates resulted in a ballot roughly a metre long. The massive ballots have resulted in delays in vote counting and have confounded some voters.
Elections Canada told CBC News on Wednesday that it will finalize ways to minimize disruptions from the long ballots.
“We are looking at ways to [simplify] things based on recent experiences with elections involving a higher-than-usual number of candidates. We will finalize our plans after the deadline for candidate nominations,” spokesperson Matthew McKenna said in an email.
Elections Canada has already had to make changes to accommodate the mammoth-sized ballots — mostly through early counting and bringing in extra workers.
Although the Longest Ballot Committee has organized in two elections where Poilievre is running, the group has also targeted Liberal strongholds such as Toronto-St. Paul’s and LaSalle-Émard-Verdun in 2024.
But the advocates’ efforts to push the limits of a ballot have sparked calls for changes, most recently from Poilievre himself which he refers to as a “scam.”
The Conservative leader wrote a letter to government House leader Steven MacKinnon on Tuesday, calling for legislation to change Canada’s election rules in an effort to curb the long ballot protests. A spokesperson for MacKinnon’s office said the Liberals share those concerns and are open to changes.
MPs were debating legislation last Parliamentary session that could have implemented some of Poilievre’s proposed changes — specifically to limit electors to only signing one nomination form. The advocates have voters sign multiple forms.
Elections Canada head Stéphane Perrault himself made the suggestion in front of a committee of MPs that was studying a bill to amend the Canada Elections Act before Parliament was prorogued.
Perrault argued that “certain penalties” should be imposed on individuals who sign — or encourage others to sign — multiple nomination papers in an effort to get as many candidates on a ballot as possible, though he didn’t say what those penalties should be.
The deadline to register as a candidate in Battle River-Crowfoot is Monday. Voters head to the polls on Aug. 18.
