Kingston’s mayor wants to promote a citywide discussion about the possible use of ranked ballots in the next municipal election.

The provincial government tabled legislation this week that, if passed, would give cities the option of using the ranked system to select mayors and councillors.

“I’m very supportive of looking into this option. That’s a discussion council should have before the next election,” Mayor Bryan Paterson said. “We do our homework and make our decision from there.”

With the existing first-past-the-post system, Kingston voters pick one name for each position on their municipal ballots — for district councillor and mayor, as well as for school trustees.

Under the ranked system, voters would indicate their first, second or third choices for each.

A candidate would have to receive 50 per cent plus one on the first count to win; if not, the last-place candidate would be dropped from the ballot and his or her second choices distributed among the remaining candidates.

The process would continue until someone is declared a winner.

The federal government is talking about introducing a similar system, but Paterson doesn’t think it odd the provincial government would first try out ranked balloting at the municipal level rather than provincewide.

“Maybe municipalities are the laboratory for democratic experimentation,” he said. “Perhaps that is a more prudent approach.”

Supporters of ranked balloting say it produces a more thoughtful election process because it makes voters consider other candidates’ platforms with their second and third choices.

“There are pros and cons to any system. Sometimes there could be negative aspects we haven’t thought of,” Paterson said. “One thing that comes to mind, moving to a ranked ballot, does it require voters to do more homework on all the candidates to rank them properly? That could be a good thing.”

Paterson said if the legislation is passed in time for 2018, it will still be optional for each community.

He wondered whether only the vote for mayor might be subject to a ranked ballot.

If that were the case, looking back at the 2014 election results, Paterson’s mayoral victor would have been subject to a subsequent counting of second-place choices.

He won out in a field of six mayoral candidates with 38 per cent of the vote, far short of 50 per cent plus one.

Four of the council positions were also won with fewer than half of the votes cast in those districts.

Paterson said he isn’t for or against ranked ballots at this time.

“When you have a number of people running, it’s very difficult for anyone to get a plurality,” he said. “So is a ranked ballot a better way to go?”

Jonathan Rose, a political science professor at Queen’s University and academic director of the Ontario Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform, said ranked balloting results in more representative democracy.

“Our present ballot forces you to make one choice. It doesn’t allow for nuances,” he said. “I ask my class to explain to a person from another planet how our present system works. It’s difficult to explain why a 30 per cent person wins.”

Rose cautions, however, against applying ranked balloting in hindsight, like for the 2014 municipal election in Kingston.

“Reporters always want to say this person would have won. It’s impossible to say because people voted in a different system,” he said. “You can’t do it because people’s preferences would change. You wouldn’t get the same results.”

Rose said the advantages of ranked balloting would be more obvious in provincial and federal elections where parties are contending.

“People vote for parties knowing they won’t win. Some would say that’s a wasted vote,” he said. “It allows voters to rethink how they vote.”

It’s uncertain how the proposed electoral reforms, which include a possible ban on donations to candidates from unions and corporations, might be rolled out in time for 2018.

One scenario would be to put it as a referendum question on the municipal ballots that year.

However, that would mean the ranked ballot system, if approved, would not be used until 2022.

“The way we elect politicians should not be decided by our politicians,” said Rose, who suggested that an assembly of citizens could be randomly selected to brainstorm the idea over several weekends and come up with a decision that would be binding on council.

Paterson called Rose’s idea “an interesting option.”

“We need community consultation and we need background research on this option,” the mayor said. “I don’t have a strong opinion on that one way or another. I want to hear from the community on this. If we’re getting conflicting views, perhaps a referendum would be a good option.”

Rose is glad the debate has started.

“We’re going to see a conversation about electoral reform at all levels,” he said.

pschliesmann@postmedia.com