OTTAWA — On May 27, Conservative party members will choose a new leader. Here are five things to know about the election process:
1. Only those who signed up to be members before midnight on March 28, 2017, or those who renewed memberships that lapsed 60 days before election day, are eligible to vote. How many members can vote won't be known until the final membership list is pulled together at the end of April.
2. Voting will take place using a preferential, or ranked-ballot, system in which voters rank their choices in order of preference. If no candidate wins more than 50 per cent of the vote, the last-place name is dropped from the ballot and the second choices of his or her supporters are counted. The process continues until one candidate emerges with at least 50 per cent of the votes plus one.
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3. There are currently 14 candidates running and all their names will appear on the ballot. Due to technical limitations, voters will only be able to rank up to and including 10 names, although they can choose just one if they so desire.
4. Members can submit ballots by mail, accompanied by photocopies of their photo identification, or vote in person on May 27 at one of the polling stations set up across the country or at the Toronto Congress Centre, where the winner will be announced.
5. It is not a 'one-member, one-vote' process. Instead, all 338 federal electoral ridings are assigned 100 points that are to be distributed among the candidates. How many points each candidate gets is based on their percentage share of the vote in that riding. So, for example, if 100 people voted in a riding and 10 of them voted for candidate X, that candidate would get 10 points. The same would be true if 1,000 people voted in a riding and 100 of them voted for candidate X. To win, a candidate must win at least 16,901 points in total.
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