Longest Ballot Committee

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Commemorative pin given to candidates in the 2022 Mississauga—Lakeshore and 2023 Winnipeg South Centre by-elections

The Longest Ballot Committee is a political movement in Canada, at one time affiliated with the Rhinoceros Party,[1] known for flooding ballots with a large number of independent candidates in protest of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting system and other electoral reform related issues.[2] The movement has gained national attention, most notably during the 2022 Mississauga—Lakeshore federal by-election, the 2023 Winnipeg South Centre federal by-election,[3] and the 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's federal by-election.[4] The committee's actions have prompted amendments to election laws to accommodate a greater number of names on the ballots,[5] and generated significant controversy.[6]

In the June 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's federal by-election, it took hours for Elections Canada workers to count all the ballots. While polls closed at 8:30 p.m. ET, the final results were not known until about 4:30 a.m. The agency said it was bogged down because there were dozens of candidates on the unwieldy, nearly metre-long ballot—some of whom were proportional representation activists running as a protest to the country's first-past-the-post voting system.[4] In the 2025 federal election, the Longest Ballot Committee targeted the Carleton riding in the Ottawa area, where Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was running.[7] Poilievre would end up losing his riding, with the group declaring victory.[8]

Elections in which the Longest Ballot Committee participated

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  1. 2021 Canadian federal election, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital: 21 candidate names on the ballot[9]
  2. 2022 Mississauga—Lakeshore federal by-election: 40 candidate names on the ballot[10]
  3. 2023 Winnipeg South Centre federal by-election: 48 candidate names on the ballot
  4. 2023 Kitchener Centre provincial by-election, 18 candidate names on the ballot[11]
  5. 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's federal by-election: 84 candidate names on the ballot[12]
  6. 2024 LaSalle—Émard—Verdun federal by-election: 91 candidate names on the ballot[13]
  7. 2025 Canadian federal election, Carleton: 91 candidate names on the ballot[14][15]

Upcoming elections in which the Longest Ballot Committee plans to participate

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  1. 2025 Battle River—Crowfoot federal by-election: estimated 200-500+ candidate names on the ballot[16][17]

Elections in which the Longest Ballot Committee planned to participate

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  1. 2024 Cloverdale—Langley City federal by-election[18]
  2. 2025 Canadian federal election, University—Rosedale, riding of Chrystia Freeland[14]
  3. 2025 Canadian federal election, Nepean, riding of Mark Carney[15]
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  • Ballot for the 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's by-election
    Ballot for the 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's by-election
  • Ballot for the 2025 Canadian federal election (Carleton)
    Ballot for the 2025 Canadian federal election (Carleton)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Elliott, Blair (April 19, 2023). "Horning In". Maisonneuve. No. 87. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  2. ^ Passifiume, Bryan (June 3, 2024). "Why Mitch Marner and Alberta have become big issues in a record-breaking Toronto byelection". National Post. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  3. ^ Passifiume, Bryan (December 27, 2023). "Long ballot activists planning to make short work of Toronto byelection". National Post.
  4. ^ a b Tasker, John Paul (June 24, 2024). "Conservatives win longtime Liberal stronghold Toronto-St. Paul's in shock byelection result". CBC News. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  5. ^ "17-B-2023-02 – Adaptations to ensure that the names of all candidates can appear on the ballot and to bring related amendments to voting procedures and counting votes". Elections Canada. June 19, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  6. ^ Posted, Shannon Sampert (June 15, 2023). "Opinion: 48 candidates is no voting panacea". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  7. ^ Major, Darren (April 7, 2025). "Longest ballot protest targets Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's riding". CBC News. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  8. ^ "Longest Ballot group declare victory in Poilievre's former riding amid criticism". CTV News. The Canadian Press. April 30, 2025. Retrieved May 1, 2025.
  9. ^ Kives, Bartley (September 3, 2021). "Rhino Party charges at broken Liberal promise by signing up independents to run in Manitoba riding". CBC News. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  10. ^ Cain, Patrick (November 22, 2022). "Mississauga-Lakeshore byelection will have at least 40 candidates, a national record". iPolitics. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  11. ^ Bueckert, Kate (November 20, 2023). "18 people on the Kitchener Centre byelection ballot is a 'novelty' but will it result in more votes?". CBC News. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  12. ^ "List of candidates, Toronto--St. Paul's (Ontario)". elections.ca. Elections Canada. Archived from the original on June 25, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  13. ^ "LaSalle—Émard—Verdun byelection will have record 91 candidates in a two-column ballot". Montreal Gazette. September 3, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  14. ^ a b Longest Ballot Committee [@LongestBallot] (January 6, 2025). "🚨Announcing TWO longest ballots for 2025! [...]" (Tweet). Retrieved January 6, 2025 – via Twitter.
  15. ^ a b Major, Darren (April 7, 2025). "Longest ballot protest targets Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's riding". CBC News. Archived from the original on April 28, 2025.
  16. ^ Ellis, Brendan (May 5, 2025). "Protest group hoping to add 200+ names to Pierre Poilievre's Alberta byelection ballot". CTV News. Retrieved May 6, 2025.
  17. ^ over 500 people have signed up and i don't know what to do😬 longestballot on Bluesky
  18. ^ Longest Ballot Committee [@LongestBallot] (November 10, 2024). "One hundred million independent candidates" (Tweet). Retrieved May 6, 2025 – via Twitter.
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