1917 Calgary municipal election

Municipal election 1917 in Calgary, Canada September 2023 1917 Calgary municipal election Calgary Municipal no 1916 Calgary municipal election 1916 1918 Calgary municipal election 1918 1917 12 10 150x150px Michael Copps Costello 2,633 50.10% Herbert Bealey Adshead 2,622 49.90% 350px Mayor Michael Copps Costello Michael Copps Costello The 1917 Calgary municipal election took place on December 10, 1917, to elect a mayor to a one-year term, and a commissioner and six aldermen to two year terms, and three aldermen for a one-year term. These officials sat on the thirty-fourth Calgary City Council.Costello Elected by 11 Majority; Graves in Again Calgary Herald December 11, 1917 1 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wApkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=v3oNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3189%2C4589832 March 2, 2021 In addition, four members for the Public School Board, three members for the Separate School Board were elected. Also, voters voted on three plebiscites on early closing and half holiday for businesses, payment for aldermen, and election of commissioners for two years.City of Calgary Calgary Municipal Manual 1954 City of Calgary 69 https://archive.org/details/N018116/page/70 March 4, 2021 The nine elected aldermen joined Aldermen John Sidney Arnold, Alexander McTaggart, and Isaac Gideon Ruttle who were previously elected to Calgary City Council for two-year terms in 1916. Robert John Tallon had also been elected the previous year but had resigned to run for commissioner in this election. Calgary's 1917 municipal election was the first election in Canada to use a system of Proportional representation, under which city councillors were elected using Single Transferable Voting (STV). They were elected at-large in a multiple-member district that covered the whole city. In this election nine councillors were elected in a single contest. As part of the electoral reform, the mayor and commissioner were henceforth to be elected using Instant-runoff voting. But as both of those contests in this election involved only two candidates, the process was no different than First past the post. Background Extension of voting franchise to all residents male or female who are British subjects 21 years of age who have been residents of the city for six months prior to June 1 of the year of a municipal election. This was the first election in Calgary under full franchise. Mayor Costello and Commissioner Graves had been acclaimed upon the close of nominations on December 7, 1915.Mayor Costello and Commissioner Graves in by Acclamation https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fQVkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yXoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3774%2C2582093 March 2, 2021 Calgary Herald December 6, 1915 1 Results Mayor Candidate Votes Percent Michael Copps Costello 2,633 Herbert Bealey Adshead 2,622 Commissioner Candidate Votes Percent Arthur Garnet Graves 2,822 Robert John Tallon 2,378 Councillors Nine seats were open in this election, an unusually large number for a Canadian STV election. Three one-year alderman position were opened on Council, following resignations of Adshead, Tallon and Patrick. The six candidates elected with the highest "peak" votes were elected to two year terms, while the other three to be elected were elected to a one-year term. To be elected under STV, a candidate needed a number of votes equal to or exceeding quota (one-tenth of the votes cast in this election), either in first preference votes or accumulated through vote transfers from other candidates, or by surviving until the field of candidates was thinned to just the number of remaining open seats The use of STV is said to have produced the emergence and increased representation of neighbourhood or community-based political groups on city council.J. Paul Johnston and Miriam Koene, "Learning History's Lessons Anew. The Use of STV in Canadian Municipal Elections," in Shawn Bowler and Bernard Grofman, Elections in Australia, Ireland and Malta under the Single Transferable Vote, p. 218-219, 229 Calgary elected its first woman city councillor in this election. Total valid votes 5189 Quota 519 Candidate 1st Count Votes Final votes Notes Andrew Graham Broatch 855 (Labour) elected in the first count Frank Roy Freeze 737 elected in the first count Samuel Hunter Adams 731 (Business) elected in the first count Robert Colin Marshall 707 (Business) elected in the first count Albert Mahaffy 266 584 Hannah Gale 334 582 Labour-oriented. nom. by a women's group Philip Dorland Sprung (One Year) 397 521 James Bernard Creagan (One Year) 326 510 Frederick John Marshall (One Year) 281 480 (Business) elected on 10th Count, elected with partial quota as last remaining candidate when field of candidates thinned. W. Brooks Waters 281 430 F.J. Bull 197 377 G.E. Williams 83 122 J.E. Hammond 39 68 Almost all front runners the first count were elected in the end. Of the top nine in the first count, only Waters was not elected, his vote tally being passed by both Mahaffy and Marshall. But single voting in a multi-seat district produced basic fairness even before transfers were applied. Both Labour and business were represented in the font runners even in the first count. Mahaffy, initially the 9th place candidate, gradually accumulated more votes from other candidates and when he passed quota and was elected, on about the 10th Count was holding more than 580 votes.Calgary Herald, Dec. 11, 1917, p. 1 and 5 Plebiscite Early closing Early closing and half holiday. For - 3,395 Against - 1,774 Payment of Aldermen For - 1,807 Against - 3,019 Election of commissioners for two year terms For - 3,814 Against - 1,183 See also List of Calgary municipal elections References 1 Category:Politics of Calgary Category:Municipal elections in Calgary Category:1917 elections in Canada Category:1910s in Calgary