Elections Ottawa still going to use hashtag with word 'mark' in it, despite complaints

An Elections Ottawa digital advertisement with the slogan "make your mark." (Ted Raymond/CTV News Ottawa)

Some voters in Ottawa say they’re upset that Elections Ottawa used a hashtag with the word “mark” in it in official communications on social media.

Elections Ottawa tweeted Sunday to announce the number of ballots cast across all 24 wards in advance voting on Friday. The post includes three hashtags: #OttVote, #OttCity, and #MakeYourMark.

The latter hashtag has prompted complaints from some residents, who see it as biased towards candidate Mark Sutcliffe, whose first name (Mark) can also be used as a word for making a visible impression upon something (to mark), such as a ballot, for instance.

There is also a school board trustee candidate named Mark D. Mullan running this year.

Elections Ottawa has used the hashtag in hundreds of tweets and Facebook posts going back to 2017. The phrase “make your mark” also appears in the banner image for Elections Ottawa’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.

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“It is not a reference to an individual’s name,” municipal elections manager Michèle Rochette said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa. “I can also confirm that this promotional tagline has been in use by the Elections Office in every municipal election since 2014. The Elections Office works with the City of Ottawa’s Public information and Media Relations Branch to develop all communications products in line with the City’s policies, including the ‘make your mark’ tagline.”

The city noted that the Municipal Elections Act uses the word “mark” to denote indicating voting preference, highlighting this passage in particular.

“More specifically,” Rochette said, “Subsection 52(3) provides the following (emphasis in original statement):

Marking ballot, etc.

(3) On receiving the ballot from the deputy returning officer, the elector shall,

(a) make a cross or other mark on the ballot, within the space designated for the marking of the ballot to the right of the name of each candidate for whom the elector wishes to vote (or, in the case of a by-law or question, to the right of the answer for which he or she wishes to vote);

(b) fold the ballot in a manner that conceals its face; and

(c) return the folded ballot to the deputy returning officer.”

In the replies to Sunday’s tweet by Elections Ottawa, some users said they were submitting official complaints to the city clerk about the use of the hashtag.

Searching the hashtag across different social media platforms shows that Sutcliffe has used it once on his Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts for identical messages on the same day. Mayoral candidates Nour Kadri and Bob Chiarelli have also used the hashtag on Twitter during this campaign. Mayor Jim Watson used it several times in 2014. There have been several municipal candidates named Mark in the past eight years, including some named Marc, the French spelling of Mark. 

There are significantly more social media posts under #MakeYourMark across different platforms about the My Little Pony franchise than there are by or about Sutcliffe, including by those using it to criticize Elections Ottawa’s use of it.

Sutcliffe’s campaign told CTV News Ottawa on Monday it would not be commenting on this issue.

Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA's "Ottawa at Work with Patricia Boal" on Wednesday, mayoral candidate Catherine McKenney, Sutcliffe's main opponent, said the hashtag didn't bother them.

"I saw that. If my opponent, Mark Sutcliffe, and that campaign was clever enough to come up with that hashtag, knowing it would be used, good on them," McKenney said. "That's what we do in elections, we take advantage of opportunities. I've seen the hashtag and it's never occurred to me that it's meant anything except marking the ballot."

CTV News Ottawa asked Elections Ottawa whether it had considered changing the hashtag because a high-profile mayoral candidate is named Mark, or whether it would cease using it for the remainder of the election campaign, which ends in less than two weeks.

In a response Tuesday, the city noted that preparations for the 2022 election began well before the nomination period opened.

“For social media specifically, the ‘make your mark’ tagline was first used in relation to the 2022 Municipal Elections on April 19, 2022, prior to the opening of the nomination period on May 2, 2022,” Rochette said.

Sutcliffe didn’t register until June 29.

“As the tagline is a ‘call to action’ for voters, and not (emphasis in original statement) a form of support for or opposition to any particular candidate, the City’s Elections Office will retain the ‘make your mark’ tagline for the remaining 13 days of the 2022 Municipal Election period,” Rochette said. “That being said, the Elections Office will also take this feedback into consideration as we plan future elections.”