November 17, 1999

To: Administration Committee

From: City Clerk

Subject: Municipal Elections - By-law Requirements

Purpose:

This report outlines the mandatory and permissive by-laws City Council may enact for the 2000 municipal election.

Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

Should Council decide to enact a by-law to provide for a contribution rebate program for the 2000 municipal election, it is estimated approximately $2,000,000 will need to be set aside to pay the rebate applications over the years 2001 and 2002.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1) Council authorize advance votes to be conducted as indicated in section number 1 of this report;

(2) Council authorize the use of voting and vote-counting equipment for municipal elections as indicated in section number 2 of this report;

(3) Council authorize the payment of rebates to persons who make contributions to candidates for the Council of the City of Toronto during the 2000 municipal election as outlined in section number 3 of this report and Appendix "A";

(4) Council authorize certain election material to be made available in the languages set out in section 4 of this report;

(5) the City continue the practice of opening voting places at 10:00 a.m. on voting day;

(6) institutions be open for the full voting day (10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.); and

(7) leave be granted to introduce the necessary Bills in Council and the appropriate City Officials be authorized to take the necessary action to give effect thereto.

Council Reference:

On June 9, 10 and 11, 1999, City Council, in receiving for information, Clause No. 30 of Report No. 6 of the Corporate Services Committee under "Other Items", was advised of the following action taken by the Committee:

"(1) the attached background report, "Election 2000", be received for information at this time;

(2) a copy of this report be circulated to all Members of Council; and

(3) the City Clerk be authorized to undertake consultations with Members of Council, and through focus groups consisting of candidates, voters and other stakeholders, on the issues and draft proposals contained in the report and report on any necessary legislative amendments, policies and procedures to Council in July and December, 1999."

This report addresses the mandatory and permissive by-laws City Council may enact for Election 2000. Reports on the necessary legislative amendments to the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 (the Act) and the process and procedures staff intend to implement for Election 2000 are also before the Committee at this time.

A separate report on a proposed election sign by-law is also being developed and will be brought to the Administration Committee in the near future.

Background:

The Municipal Elections Act, 1996 (the Act) significantly altered the manner in which elections were to be administered, from a process strictly mandated by the legislation to one where the municipality has the flexibility to tailor certain elements of the election to suit the particular needs of the municipality.

The Act assigns the decision making role to Council for those areas/activities that necessitate political accountability (e.g., the number of advance voting days) or that involve the spending of public funds (e.g., the adoption of a contribution rebate program).

For the 1997 municipal election, section 23 of the City of Toronto Act, 1997 provided that the 1997 election was to be conducted as if the new City had already been created. This meant, among other things, there was no council in place that could enact the by-laws or resolutions required under the Municipal Elections Act, 1996.

To address this issue, the Province, through a series of regulations, dealt with all those matters that normally would be handled by a council by-law or resolution. (The former City of Toronto did enact its own by-laws based upon legal advice it received. These by-laws mirrored the regulatory provisions set out by the Province.)

The regulations provided for the following matters:

a) the establishment of a contribution rebate program;

b) the establishment of dates and times for advance voting;

c) to authorize the use of vote-counting equipment;

d) to provide election information in a number of selected languages;

e) to permit reduced voting hours in certain institutions;

f) to enable the placement of municipal questions on the ballot; and

g) to permit council to order a recount.

In preparing this report, election staff analysed the impact of the above noted items on the 1997 municipal election process. Staff also consulted with Members of Council during the early part of 1998 (to obtain feedback from their 1997 municipal election experience) and during the months of September and October, 1999 on the proposed policies, procedures and by-laws for Election 2000. In addition, staff conducted six public meetings during the period October 18 to 26, 1999 to obtain the views of the electors, ratepayer groups and former candidates.

Staff used the opportunity presented by both the East York and Scarborough Highland Creek by-elections to survey electors on various election practices, such as the hours voting places should be open and their preferred day of the week for voting.

Identified issues from the consultations include:

a) language issues should be addressed in the voting places to assist electors whose first language is not English;

b) institutional voting hours should ensure that voters are not disenfranchised on voting day if they are unable to attend during imposed reduced hours;

c) advance voting should be designed as more of an outreach program;

d) the fact that contributors cannot receive their rebates until candidates close off their campaigns creates an incredible amount of pressure on the candidates and jeopardizes the participation of these contributors in future elections;

e) City Council should carefully consider whether or not to adopt a contribution rebate program for future elections; and

f) the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer and the City Auditor should review all audited financial statements prior to any rebate applications being approved for payment.

1. Advance Voting

Authority to pass a by-law establishing the times and dates for advance voting is found in subsection 43(1) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996. This subsection provides that a council must pass a by-law establishing one or more days for advance voting and the hours during which voting places shall be open for advance voting. This by-law must be passed at least 30 days before voting day. The location of the voting places for the advance votes is left to the discretion of the municipal clerk.

In 1997, Ontario Regulation 338/97 provided for two advance voting days - Saturday, November 1 and Wednesday, November 5, 1997 - with voting places open from 12 noon to 8:00 p.m. One voting location was provided for each of the former local municipal wards. A total of 30,598 electors voted over the two days.

The regulation also provided for one week of continuous advance voting at the six civic centres between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. during the period October 27 to October 31, 1997. A total of 6,193 electors voted at the continuous advance vote.

Staff propose that the service level be enhanced over that offered in 1997 to increase voter accessibility.

It is recommended that:

(i) advance voting using the touch screen units be conducted on Saturday, October 28, 2000 (12 noon to 6:00 p.m.) and Sunday, November 5, 2000 (12 noon to 5:00 p.m.) at several chosen locations throughout the City. An elector will be able to attend at any of these locations to vote as a touch screen unit is capable of storing all 285 ballot faces in its memory. These locations would be linked to the City's database so that an elector's name would be immediately deleted from the master voters' list to indicate he/she had voted.

(ii) advance voting using the vote tabulators be conducted on Saturday, November 4, 2000 and Wednesday, November 8, 2000 between the hours of 12 noon to 8:00 p.m. 57 advance voting locations will be provided, one in each of the City's recommended new wards. Where possible the advance voting places will be located in City-owned community and recreation centres so that the voters' lists can be linked to the City's database.

(iii) continuous advance voting be available at the six civic centres, weekdays between the hours of 12 noon and 6:00 p.m. for the period Monday, October 23, 2000 to Friday, November 3, 2000.

2. Voting/Vote-counting Equipment

Authority to pass a by-law authorizing the use of voting and vote-counting equipment is provided in subsection 42(1) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996. A by-law must be passed at least 60 days before voting day.

In 1997, authority was granted by Ontario Regulation 338/97. Poll level optical scan vote tabulators were used in East York, North York and York. Central count optical scan vote tabulators were used in Etobicoke and Scarborough.

At its meeting on September 28, 29 and 30, 1999, City Council authorized the acquisition of up to 1,850 poll level optical scan vote tabulators and up to 100 touch screen voting units for voting purposes in the City of Toronto.

It is recommended that Council authorize the use of voting and vote-counting equipment for municipal elections in the City of Toronto.

3. Contribution Rebate Program

Authority to pass a by-law instituting a contribution rebate program is found in subsection 82(1) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996.

In 1997, authority was granted by Ontario Regulation 172/97. The program imposed by the Province mirrored that which had previously been part of the former Municipal Elections Act.

In order to administer this program, candidates were given sequentially numbered, three part receipts. The original white form is the contributor's application for rebate, the pink copy is filed with the candidate's financial statement and the yellow copy is for the candidate's records. A database was created to enter all the information contained on the receipt form. It took three staff six months to enter all the information into the database. When the applications for rebates were received, the information on the application form was matched up with the information in the database. A software program was designed to aggregate contributions made by the same individual, corporation or trade union to ensure that no contributor received more than the maximum rebate allowed. It was also used as a source of information to handle all telephone and written inquiries.

Over 34,000 contribution rebate receipts were issued by candidates during the 1997 election. More than 20,000 cheques have been mailed to date, totalling over $1,680,000 in rebates. If every contributor had submitted their receipt for a rebate, the total rebate paid would have been $2,927,000.

To date, the costs to administer the 1997 rebate program are approximately $120,000 for staffing and the cost of the software development and support. In addition, it costs approximately $40 to create a cheque under the former North York finance department payment system (which was used to run the rebate cheques), resulting in an additional $800,000 expenditure.

Rebates were issued based on the following formula:

a) for contributions $100 or less, 75 percent is rebated;

b) for contributions more than $100 but less than $400, $75 plus 50 percent of the difference between the total contribution and $100;

c) for contributions over $400, $225 plus 33 1/3 percent of the difference between the total contribution and $400; and

d) the maximum amount of the rebate is $350 regardless of the total amount of the contributions made by a contributor to candidates.

There is a similar rebate program for contributors to provincial parties, constituency associations and candidates. In each year, a person, corporation or trade union may contribute up to $7,500 to any provincial party. A contributor may also contribute up to $1,000 to a constituency association on an annual basis, but the total contribution to all constituency associations of the same party must not exceed $5,000. This means, the maximum annual political contribution allowed in a non-election year is $12,500 to each registered party and its constituency associations. During an election campaign a contributor may make extra contributions of an additional $7,500 to any provincial party and up to $1,000 to any candidate so long as the total contribution to all candidates of the same party does not exceed $5,000.

For every political contribution made, an individual contributor will receive a receipt for tax credit purposes on a contributor's income tax return. The criteria for calculating the tax credit for individuals is outlined below:

a) contributions up to $300 get 75 percent back as a credit;

b) contributions from $300 to $1,000 get $225 plus 50 percent of the amount over $300;

c) contributions over $1,000 get $575 plus 33 percent of the amount over $1,000; and

d) the maximum amount credited can not exceed $1000. This is obtained when contributions total $2,275.

The tax credit for corporations is different. Under the Corporations Tax Act, companies may deduct up to a maximum of $15,000 from the Ontario portion of their taxable income. This deduction cannot be used to create a tax loss.

There is also a rebate program for contributions made to federal parties, constituency associations and candidates. In non-election years, contributions made to political parties are receipted and claimed as tax credits on the contributor's personal income tax return.

During election years, contributions made to candidates are governed by the following rules:

a) contributions from $1 to $100 get 75 percent back as a tax credit;

b) contributions from $100.01 to $550 get $75 plus 50 percent of the amount over $100;

c) contributions from $550.01 to $1,150 get $300 plus 33 1/3 percent of the amount over $550; and

d) the maximum tax credit is $500.

Federal and provincial programs have very similar formulas for calculating rebates as does the current City of Toronto program, but have a higher maximum contribution amount to candidates, provincially being $1,000 and federally $1,150. The maximum rebate or tax credit allowed by each program varies from $350 for the City's program, to $500 for the federal program and $1,000 for the Provincial program.

If City Council chooses to have a contribution rebate program for the 2000 municipal election, it must enact a by-law to authorize such a program. To be fair to candidates, a decision on this matter should be made prior to the start of the campaign period, being January 1, 2000.

Section 82 of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 provides total flexibility to Council in establishing the program, including the conditions under which a person is entitled to a rebate, the rebate amounts payable and the administration of the program.

A contribution rebate program certainly does assist candidates in raising sufficient funds to mount a campaign, particularly for the first time candidates. It is seen as an incentive for contributors to give more money to candidates as they might normally do as they would receive a rebate for a portion of the contribution.

During consultations with Members of Council, the majority were of the opinion the current program provisions worked well and should be continued. The main complaint was that rebates were not paid to contributors until after the candidate had completely closed off the campaign, filed the final financial statement and the 90 day compliance period had ended.

In setting the parameters for the 1997 rebate program payment, the province, in the interest of protecting public funds, stipulated that no rebate was to be paid until the candidate had satisfied all the filing requirements of the legislation. In reviewing the candidates from the 1997 election and the 1998 by-election in East York, only one candidate failed to file the additional supplementary financial filings after having filed the initial statement. All other candidates have continued to file the necessary supplementary statements.

To address the concerns expressed by the Members of Council, it is suggested that rebates will be paid for contributions shown on each financial statement or supplementary financial statement, as the case may be, after the end of the 90 day compliance period. In adopting this approach, there is the risk that public funds could have already been given to contributors while the candidate, ultimately, failed to continue to meet the financial filing requirements.

As part of the streamlining process, staff intend to amend the rebate application form to track donations by associated companies to provide much needed administrative ease when determining rebate qualifications.

Staff are recommending that Council authorize the payment of rebates to persons who make contributions to candidates for the Council of the City of Toronto during the 2000 municipal election as outlined above and in the attached Appendix "A".

4. Languages

Authority to pass a by-law authorizing the use of French in prescribed forms (e.g. the ballot) or French and other languages for notices, non-prescribed forms and any other information provided under the Act, is found in subsection 9(2) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996.

In 1997, authority was granted by Ontario Regulation 338/97. In 1997, the formula applied for determining languages was all those languages that made up more than 2% of the population of the entire new City of Toronto. Certain notices, non-prescribed forms and certain other information provided under the Act were available in Chinese, French, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil and Vietnamese.

Some Members of Council have suggested the language calculation should be more properly done on a ward basis rather then across the entire City. Individual suggestions from Councillors ranged between 2 percent and 5 percent of the population in the ward. Staff have examined the dominant first languages by ward based upon the 1996 census data. Using three percent of the population in a ward will result in election information being made available in the following languages, in addition to English and French, for the 2000 municipal election: Chinese (both Cantonese and Mandarin), Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Spanish, Tagalog and Ukranian.

Using three percent of languages in a ward will mean the addition of Punjabi and Ukranian and the deletion of Somali, Tamil and Vietnamese from the languages used for the 1997 municipal election.

The information to be made available in these languages will be the voting instructions in the voting places, the election tabloid and the translation services in the election call centre.

It is recommended that Council authorize the provision of the above noted election information for the 2000 municipal election to be made available in English and French as well as Chinese (both Cantonese and Mandarin), Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Spanish, Tagalog and Ukranian.

5. Voting Hours

Authority to pass a by-law to provide that specified voting locations will be open earlier than 10 a.m. on voting day is provided in subsection 46(2) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996. This practice was not adopted for the 1997 municipal election.

During the consultations with Members of Council, some Councillors expressed an interest in opening the voting places earlier than 10:00 a.m., suggesting either a 6:00 a.m. or 8:00 a.m. start. In the recent Scarborough Highland Creek by-election, only 12.5 percent of surveyed voters indicated they would want to vote before 10:00 a.m. In addition, some survey responses from the election day workers in the by-election indicated they would not be willing to start work any earlier as it would make for a very long day and some have children they need to see off to school in the morning.

Staff are concerned that difficulties would be experienced in recruiting sufficient knowledgeable staff to work. Election day workers are required to be at the voting places an hour before the opening, so with a 6:00 a.m. start, workers would have to be at the voting places at 5:00 a.m. and would be working until 9:30 p.m. by the time all supplies are returned to the warehouse. These additional early morning hours would cause a higher level of exhaustion at the time when the voting place is the busiest (6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.), particularly for the seniors.

Every additional hour that the voting places are open costs the City $200,000.00 based upon the 1997 election pay rates. Opening at 6:00 a.m. would increase the election cost by $800,000.00 and opening at 8:00 a.m. would increase it by $400,000.00. This amount does not include any additional charges the owners of the voting place facilities might impose upon the City to have their staff present to open the building at 5:00 a.m.

Staff are concerned difficulties might arise with opening the voting places on time if election workers are trying to drive to the locations during rush hour and are caught in traffic. Parking at the voting places would also be an issue during the morning rush hour, especially at the schools as parents or school buses drop off children.

Staff are of the opinion that electors are too rushed in the morning with getting to work to think about voting. While early voting would be attractive to multi-residential building tenants with a voting place in the lobby, staff are unsure of how many electors would go out of their way to vote on their way to work.

It is recommended that the City continue the practice of opening voting places at 10:00 a.m. on voting day.

6. Voting Hours In Institutions

Authority to pass a by-law authorizing reduced hours of voting for voting places in institutions is provided in subsection 46(3) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996. In 1997, authority was granted by Ontario Regulation 338/97 as amended by Ontario Regulation 402/97.

In 1997, four of the six former municipalities chose to proceed with reduced hours in institutions. This initiative met with mixed results. In some instances, eligible electors were absent during the designated voting hours of the institution, necessitating a return trip by election officials so that the electors would not be disenfranchised.

It is recommended that institutions be open for the full voting day (10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.) based on the 1997 experience.

7. Council Resolutions

Certain provisions of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 provide for Council to pass a resolution to authorize the following:

(a) Scrutineers - Question(s) - By-law(s)

Authority to pass a resolution to appoint scrutineers to oversee the voting on a by-law or question submitted to the electors is found in subsection 16(5) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996.

(b) Recounts

Authority to pass a resolution to require the Clerk to conduct a recount is found in subsection 57(1) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996. A resolution must be passed within 30 days of the Clerk's declaration of the official results of the election.

(c) Compliance Audits

Authority to pass a resolution to appoint an auditor to conduct a compliance audit of a candidate's election campaign finances is found in subsection 81(4) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996.

Should one of these situations arise during the 2000 Election, staff will prepare the appropriate report and draft resolution at that time.

Conclusions:

This report outlines the mandatory and permissive by-laws City Council may enact for the 2000 municipal election.

Staff are recommending that Council authorize by-laws for advance voting dates and hours, the use of voting and vote-counting equipment, the establishment of a contribution rebate program, the selection of languages that certain election information will be made available in.

The enactment of these by-laws will give direction to staff and candidates for the 2000 municipal election.

Contact Name:

John Hollins, Director of Elections, City Clerk's Division

Telephone: (416) 392-1867 E-mail: jhollins@toronto.ca

Novina Wong

City Clerk

APPENDIX "A" - PROPOSED CONTRIBUTION REBATE PROGRAM

1. That the payment of rebates to persons who make contributions to candidates for the Council of the City of Toronto for the 2000 municipal election, is hereby authorized.

(1) An individual, corporation or trade union that, during the 2000 municipal election, makes a contribution to candidates for the offices of Mayor or Councillor of the Council of the City of Toronto may, on or after January 1, 2000 apply to the clerk for a rebate.

(2) The application shall be made on or before July 31, 2001, unless the candidate's campaign period is extended under paragraph 4 or 5 of subsection 68(1) of the Act, in which case the application may be made within 6 months after the date the receipt is issued.

(3) The application shall be in the form provided by the clerk.

(4) The application shall include a receipt that is signed by or on behalf of the candidate.

(5) A candidate referred to in subsection 1(1) is required to comply with subsections 78(1) to (4) of the Act, despite subsection 78(5) of the Act; the candidate shall include with the documents filed under subsection 78(1) or (2) of the Act, as the case may be, a copy of the receipt issued for the contribution.

(6) The clerk shall compare the receipt filed by the applicant and the copy filed by the candidate to ensure consistency.

(7) The clerk shall pay the applicant a rebate in accordance with subsections (8) and (9) if the following conditions are met:

(a) The application complies with subsections (2), (3) and (4).

(b) The candidate has complied with subsection (5).

(c) The clerk is satisfied that the receipt filed by the applicant and the copy filed by the candidate are consistent.

(d) The clerk is satisfied that the candidate has filed the document (either the audited financial statement or the supplementary audited financial statement, as the case may be) as required by section 78 of the Act by the relevant date, and that no such document shows on its face that the candidate has incurred expenses exceeding what is permitted under section 76 of the Act.

(e) The clerk is satisfied that the candidate has paid any amount required by section 79 of the Act to the clerk by the relevant date if the audited financial statement or the supplementary audited statement, as the case may be, shows on its face the candidate has a surplus amount.

(f) In the case of a contribution made on or before December 1, 2000, the time for applying for a compliance audit under section 81 of the Act in respect of the candidate's financial statement has expired.

(g) In the case of a contribution made after December 1, 2000 to a candidate whose election campaign period continues beyond that date, the time for applying for a compliance audit under section 81 of the Act is respect of the relevant supplementary financial statement has expired.

(8) The rebate shall be calculated as follows, subject to subsection (9):

(a) Contributions less than $50 will not be subject to a rebate.

(b) If the contribution is $100 or less, the rebate is 75 percent of the contribution.

(c) If the contribution is more than $100 but not more than $400, the rebate is $75 plus 50 percent of the difference between the contribution and $100.

(d) If the contribution is more than $400.00, the rebate is the lesser of:

(i) $225.00 plus 33 1/3 percent of the difference between the contribution and $400.00, and

(ii) $350.00.

(9) An applicant who makes contributions to more than one candidate may apply for a rebate in respect of each contribution, but is not entitled to receive total rebates amounting to more than the following maximums:

(a) If the total of the applicant's contributions to all candidates is $100.00 or less, the maximum is 75 percent of that total.

(b) If the total of the applicant's contributions to all candidates is more than $100 but not more than $400, the maximum is $75 plus 50 percent of the difference between that total and $100.

(c) If the total of the applicant's contributions to all candidates is more than $400, the maximum is the lesser of,

(i) $225 plus 33 1/3 percent of the difference between that total and $400, and

(ii) $350.