Longest Ballot Committee

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Longest Ballot Committee
Formation2021 (2021)
PurposeTo protest against the first-past-the-post voting system and advocate electoral reform in Canada
Location
  • Canada
Affiliations Rhinoceros Party

The Longest Ballot Committee is a Canadian activist movement known for flooding ballots with a large number of independent candidates in protest of the first-past-the-post (FPTP) voting system in the country. [1] The movement argues there is a conflict of interest when politicians are in charge of election rules, and calls for election law to be decided by a permanent, independent, and non-partisan body, [2] such as a citizens' assembly. [3] It is affiliated with the satirical Rhinoceros Party. [4]

Contents

History

The first attempt for a long ballot was in the 2019 Canadian federal election, when the Rhinoceros Party attempted to set a Guinness World Record for the longest ballot paper in history in Conservative leader Andrew Scheer's riding of Regina—Qu'Appelle. [5] Ultimately, only two candidates affiliated with the party ended up on the ballot. [6]

The movement began garnering national attention after participating in the 2022 Mississauga—Lakeshore federal by-election, the 2023 Winnipeg South Centre federal by-election, [7] and the 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's federal by-election. [8] The committee's actions have prompted amendments to election laws to accommodate a greater number of names on the ballots, [9] and generated significant controversy. [10]

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. [8]

In the 2025 federal election, the Longest Ballot Committee targeted the Carleton riding in the Ottawa area, where Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was running. [11] The committee's spokesperson Tomas Szuchewycz declared their efforts at highlighting electoral reform during the election a success, amid criticisms of their method. [12]

A poll conducted in July 2025 with a sample size of 1,500 found that 43% of Canadians believed the method to be an inappropriate form of protest, while 30% felt it was appropriate. 47% support legislation to stop the Longest Ballot Committee, while 34% opposed. In both cases, Conservatives were more against the protest, while the Liberals and NDP were more supportive of it. [13]

On July 28, 2025, on account of the registration of 214 candidates in the 2025 Battle River—Crowfoot federal by-election in which Poilievre was running, Elections Canada decided to use a special ballot similar to a mail-in ballot instead of the standard ballot, with a full list of candidates provided at polling stations. [14] [15]

Elections in which the Longest Ballot Committee participated

ElectionRidingCandidates [a] IncumbentResult
2021 federal election Saint Boniface—Saint Vital 21 [16] Liberal Liberal hold
2022 federal by-election Mississauga—Lakeshore 40 [17] Liberal Liberal hold
2023 federal by-election Winnipeg South Centre 48 Liberal Liberal hold
2023 Ontario by-election Kitchener Centre 18 [18] New Democratic Green gain
2024 federal by-election Toronto—St. Paul's 84 [19] Liberal Conservative gain
2024 federal by-election LaSalle—Émard—Verdun 91 [20] Liberal Bloc Québécois gain
2025 federal election Carleton 91 [21] [22] Conservative Liberal notional gain
2025 federal by-election Battle River—Crowfoot 214 [15] Conservative Conservative hold

Elections in which the Longest Ballot Committee planned to participate

  1. 2024 Cloverdale—Langley City federal by-election [23]
  2. 2025 Canadian federal election, University—Rosedale, riding of Chrystia Freeland [21]
  3. 2025 Canadian federal election, Nepean, riding of Mark Carney [22]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Total number of candidates on the ballot, including candidates who are not affiliated with the Longest Ballot Committee.

References

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ Major, Darren (April 7, 2025). "Longest ballot protest targets Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's riding". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on April 28, 2025. Retrieved May 25, 2025.
  3. ↑ Robertson, Dylan (April 28, 2025). "Longest Ballot group declares victory in Poilievre's former riding amid criticism". CityNews. Archived from the original on May 25, 2025. Retrieved May 25, 2025.
  4. ↑ Elliott, Blair (April 19, 2023). "Horning In". Maisonneuve . No. 87. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  5. ↑ "Guiness World Record of longuest [sic] electoral ballot in History!". Rhinoceros Party . Regina, Saskatchewan. September 18, 2019. Archived from the original on August 3, 2025. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  6. ↑ "Official Voting Results — Regina—Qu'Appelle". Elections Canada. Archived from the original on April 28, 2025. Retrieved July 24, 2025.
  7. ↑ Passifiume, Bryan (December 27, 2023). "Long ballot activists planning to make short work of Toronto byelection". National Post .
  8. 1 2 Tasker, John Paul (June 24, 2024). "Conservatives win longtime Liberal stronghold Toronto-St. Paul's in shock byelection result". CBC News . Archived from the original on July 2, 2024. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  9. ↑ "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. Archived from the original on July 12, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  10. ↑ Posted, Shannon Sampert (June 15, 2023). "Opinion: 48 candidates is no voting panacea". Winnipeg Free Press . Archived from the original on June 9, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  11. ↑ 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. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  12. ↑ "Longest Ballot group declare victory in Poilievre's former riding amid criticism". CTV News . The Canadian Press. April 30, 2025. Retrieved May 1, 2025.
  13. ↑ "Battle of the Long Ballot: CPC voters call protest 'inappropriate', want it banned — others say it's fair game". Angus Reid Institute . July 28, 2025. Archived from the original on August 17, 2025. Retrieved August 18, 2025.
  14. ↑ Major, Darren (July 28, 2025). "Write-in ballots to be used in Alberta byelection due to record number of candidates". CBC News . Archived from the original on July 28, 2025. Retrieved July 28, 2025.
  15. 1 2 "17-B-2025-01 – Adaptations to modify the ballot and to bring related amendments". Elections Canada. Retrieved July 30, 2025.
  16. ↑ Kives, Bartley (September 3, 2021). "Rhino Party charges at broken Liberal promise by signing up independents to run in Manitoba riding". CBC News . Archived from the original on September 27, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  17. ↑ Cain, Patrick (November 22, 2022). "Mississauga-Lakeshore byelection will have at least 40 candidates, a national record". iPolitics . Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ "List of candidates, Toronto—St. Paul's (Ontario)". elections.ca. Elections Canada. Archived from the original on June 25, 2024. Retrieved June 9, 2024.
  20. ↑ "LaSalle—Émard—Verdun byelection will have record 91 candidates in a two-column ballot". Montreal Gazette . September 3, 2024. Archived from the original on September 4, 2024. Retrieved September 10, 2024.
  21. 1 2 Longest Ballot Committee [@LongestBallot] (January 6, 2025). "🚨Announcing TWO longest ballots for 2025! [...]" (Tweet). Retrieved January 6, 2025– via Twitter.
  22. 1 2 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.
  23. ↑ Longest Ballot Committee [@LongestBallot] (November 10, 2024). "One hundred million independent candidates" (Tweet). Retrieved May 6, 2025– via Twitter.
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