Lessons Learned: Referendum Resource Officers and the 2007 Ontario Referendum on Electoral Reform

During the 2007 Ontario referendum on electoral reform, Elections Ontario took the unprecedented step of hiring local referendum resource officers (RRO) to provide referendum information through presentations and public meetings in all ridings. This article examines the feedback of nearly one-third of these RROs collected through telephone and email interviews. It seeks to understand the challenges faced by RROs and present a number of lessons learned from their experiences. Many of the RROs interviewed commented that their work was not supported by appropriate timelines, budgets and materials. In addition, many were displeased with the restrictions placed on RROs in efforts to keep the Elections Ontario campaign neutral, ultimately limiting of the ability of their audiences to form opinions on the referendum issue. This case study supports previous referendum education and voting research that demonstrates that referendum education campaigns should not only provide timely and accessible information, but also encourage debate in order to provide citizens with the competence needed to form opinions.