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Revised Voters' List Report

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Revised Voters' List Report To ronto’s Voters’ List Options Ulli S. Watkiss, City Clerk October, 2007 █ Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 1.0 Background 5 2.0 Toronto’s 2006 Municipal Voters’ List 7 3.0 Voters’ List Operational Issues 12 4.0 Options 18 5.0 Analysis 21 6.0 Recommendation 25 7.0 Methodology 26 8.0 Appendices 28 Executive Summary The issue attracted much media attention One of the key elements providing legitimacy and was a source of concern for candidates, to an election is an accurate, current and especially given its impact on their campaign reliable voters’ list. spending limits. While concerns about the accuracy of To fully understand the implications of the Ontario municipal voters’ lists have been “unconfirmed” individuals on the PLE, see expressed for several elections, the 2006 the City Clerk’s 2006 Returning Officer’s election presented Clerks across the Report. province with a unique and demanding problem. As a result of the unconfirmed elector issue, at its July 25, 26 and 27, 2006 meeting, The Municipal Property Assessment Toronto City Council recommended that “in Corporation (MPAC), the organization who view of the continuing issues surrounding under the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 (the [the Municipal Property Assessment MEA) is responsible for providing the Corporation’s (MPAC’s)] ability to prepare an preliminary lists of electors to Ontario’s accurate voters’ list, the City Clerk be municipalities, included the names of instructed to report to the next term of individuals whose eligibility to vote had not Council on other options that City Council been confirmed on the lists they sent to could consider for the compilation and Clerks across the province. preparation of the City’s voters’ list.” On July 19, 2006, the City Clerk received an This paper briefly looks at the history of electronic copy of Toronto’s preliminary list of municipal voters’ lists in Ontario and the electors (PLE) from MPAC. There were current legislative framework, examines the 276,682 individuals on the PLE identified by issues that are present in any method of MPAC as unconfirmed Canadian citizens or compiling electoral information, identifies the whose age was not known. factors that need to be considered in weighing the options presented and analyzes Notwithstanding the fact it is MPAC, not the the options potentially available for the Clerk, who has the legislative responsibility preparation of Toronto’s municipal voters’ to provide a preliminary list of eligible lists. The options examined are: electors, the Clerk decided it was incumbent upon her to proactively address this issue to an “active” partnership with MPAC; preserve the integrity of the election. a voter registration system; conducting an enumeration; Accordingly, the City Clerk implemented a obtaining a voters’ list from another comprehensive “Unconfirmed Voter Strategy” source (e.g. Elections Canada or to attempt to confirm the elector Elections Ontario); and qualifications of the individuals identified as conducting the election with no “unknown”. voters’ list. Any desire on the part of Toronto City Council to alter the manner in which voters’ lists are 2 City Clerk’s Office prepared for the City’s elections will used on voting day. The establishment of require the Ontario Legislature to Elections Canada’s and Elections Ontario’s enact amending legislation. permanent registers and the elimination of door-to-door enumeration are evidence of This paper takes a narrow scope when this fact. This shift is balanced by an discussing alternative options for the obligation on election officials to ensure that compilation and preparation of the City’s electors have ready access to processes that voters’ list. It assumes that the Municipal offer them every opportunity to get on the Elections Act, 1996 is in effect in its current voters’ list. form. It assumes that the elector eligibility requirements have not changed. This paper recommends that in future elections the City Clerk use Elections If either of these two basic assumptions Ontario’s Permanent Register of Electors, change, then the analysis, options and supplemented by information from any recommendations listed in the paper will also source that, in the opinion of the Clerk, is change. relevant, as the basis for the voters’ list. This approach would allow the Clerk the flexibility Although the voters’ list impacts many to use data from any source to ensure the aspects of the administration of the election, voters’ list is as accurate as possible heading the peripheral issues that are impacted by into an election period. the voters’ list are out of scope for this paper. This paper does not discuss: This option would be easy to implement, is cost-effective, supports the principles of compliance and enforcement democratic elections and continues the mechanisms for the MEA; Canadian tradition that the government is campaign expense limits; responsible for collecting electoral elector identification requirements; information. methods to increase voter turnout; mandatory voting; and The option also provides the added benefit of voting place procedures. obtaining information from a dedicated election resource. MPAC’s primary focus is Traditionally in Canada, the government has property assessment and the preparation of assumed responsibility for the collection of municipal voters’ lists is a very small electoral data and the preparation of voters’ component of its business. As such, MPAC lists. This is in contrast with the practice in makes decisions about who to include in other parts of the world, such as the United their database based on their property States, which places the onus on the elector assessment status, not elector qualification. to take the necessary action to ensure their In contrast, Elections Ontario’s primary name is included on the voters’ list. business is elections and as such, their permanent register is compiled for the sole In elections at all levels in Ontario, there has purpose of determining elector eligibility. By been a slight shift in onus that requires using Elections Ontario’s permanent register, electors to play an increasing role in ensuring the City would be following the practice that that they are included on the voters’ lists is used in the vast majority of Canada’s Voters’ List Report 3 provinces and territories by obtaining elector information from an organization’s whose sole focus is elections. However, since Elections Ontario’s Permanent Register of Electors is also updated with information from both Elections Canada and MPAC through a tripartite agreement, this option also benefits from the data collection activities of these other agencies. 4 City Clerk’s Office 1.0 Background Up to the 1985 election, the municipal enumeration was a door-to-door process that 1.1 History took place in early September of an election year. However, from 1988 to 1998, the Historically, in addition to age, citizenship municipal enumeration was conducted by and residency qualifications, an individual mail, with a Municipal Enumeration Form needed to own property in order to be able to being mailed to every household identified in vote in Ontario’s municipal elections. the property assessment database. Given this relationship to property value, Given the increasing costs and associated Ontario municipal voters’ lists were prepared issues of conducting a full enumeration and using information contained in the property in recognition of the need to improve the assessment database. Accordingly, the quality of enumeration data, in 1999 the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation property assessment staff began to is the agency responsible for compiling investigate new data sources and data Ontario’s municipal voters’ lists under the quality improvement opportunities. The Municipal Elections Act, 1996. This manner creation of the National Register of Electors of preparation makes Ontario municipal (NRE) following the 1997 federal election voters’ lists unique when compared to other provided the opportunity for a comparison of Canadian jurisdictions.1 the quality of the municipal electoral information with that contained in the On a daily on-going basis, the property Elections Canada database. assessment agency collects updated information, e.g. new property ownerships Beginning in 2000, municipal enumerations and updated occupant information through were targeted, with Municipal Enumeration property assessment visits. Forms only being mailed to those households that could not be matched with In addition, throughout the years, the agency the NRE. responsible for property assessment conducted an enumeration to gather the It is important to note that MPAC’s primary information required for the preparation of business activity is property assessment and lists of electors.2 that the generation of preliminary list of electors is a small component of its Until 1980, enumeration was an annual workload. MPAC’s database operates on event, after that, it moved to a three-year business rules designed to fulfill its core event (now a four-year event) in conjunction responsibility for property assessment with a municipal election. valuation, not the collection of elector information. For example, MPAC cannot add “new property owners” based solely upon an application to amend the voters’ list that the 1 See Appendix A for a description of how other Clerk may receive during an election. It must provinces prepare their municipal voters’ lists. receive property ownership changes from the Land Registry Offices.
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