Longest Ballot Campaign declares victory in Battle River-Crowfoot byelection
Protest group's candidates in record-breaking election only garnered 314 votes, but organizers say their point was made
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OTTAWA — Despite their candidates only earning 314 votes in Monday’s federal byelection that saw Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre regain a seat in the House of Commons, the election protest group responsible for embiggening the ballot is declaring victory.
“Of course, a movement that adds as many names as possible to a ballot isn’t really obsessing over vote results, we’re far more interested in making a political point,” the Longest Ballot Committee said in a statement issued Tuesday evening.
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“What started with just a small group of friends and the blessing of the Rhinoceros party has now become a movement seven out of 10 Canadians are aware of, and perceived as such a political threat we’ve been mislabelled a ‘scam’ by the leader of the opposition.”
Indeed, Monday’s byelection in the east-central Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot saw a ballot with over 200 names on it, more than doubling the previous record set in the suburban Ottawa riding of Carleton, which Poilievre lost to a Liberal rookie.
Rather than subject voters to an enormous ballot, Elections Canada asked voters to write the name of their preferred candidate on the ballot instead of the standard checkbox.
The Longest Ballot Committee was the brainchild of Tomas and Kieran Szuchewycz in response to former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s failed promise to introduce election reform. Trudeau had proclaimed the 2015 federal election would be Canada’s last using the “first-past-the-post” election system, and vowed to introduce more equitable schemes such as proportional representation.
The committee wants the determining of election rules removed from the purview of elected politicians and instead entrusted to a neutral, non-partisan body — similar to how the arm’s-length Elections Canada operates elections and the Electoral Boundary Commission determines ridings.
“We have a very reasonable request, we’re asking for a similar body, call it Election Rules Canada, to oversee democratic reform,” the statement read.
Poilievre garnered 40,548 votes out of the 50,434 ballots cast Monday, with independent Bonnie Critchley — who loudly disavowed association with the protest — coming in second with 5,013 votes.
Longest Ballot candidates, at most, garnered around 11 votes, with the vast majority of ballot candidates getting one or zero votes.
“The longest ballot is a political prank that successfully gets attention and points out uncomfortable truths about power,” the committee’s statement continued.
“This autumn, MPs and an eager Mr. Poilievre are likely to prove our point once again: Politicians only change election rules to help themselves.”
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