The Protest vote:
For the past many elections, both Federal and Provincial, I’ve loathed entering the voting booth.
I have no one to vote for. The two entrenched parties are old, slow, and only partially represent my views. The candidates are often no more than party hacks or useless vassals.
So many times, I would like to, as a voter, register a protest vote. Somehow tell these candidates and parties that none of them are any good. That they all need to change.
At the very least, with a proportional system like BC-STV, I could do that. And here’s the proof.
Democracy can really suck sometimes. But nothing sucks more being forced to waste the right of universal suffrage that is still so precious and new in many parts of this world.
With STV, I could still hold my nose and vote for some party that at its core doesn’t really represent me, but at least in doing so I can register my disdain in a real way.
So, Scott Fraser, you better work hard for that 2nd or 3rd choice, because if you don’t, it’ll be Gillian Trumper instead! 😉
For those of you who live in BC and do not like voting, I strongly encourage you to vote for BC-STV. It doesn’t matter if you don’t wish to vote in the election; vote in the referendum (preferably for BC-STV). It doesn’t matter if you are a left or right winger, or middle of the road. Your vote matters in the referendum. You can vote for the BC Liberals, NDP, Green Party, another party’s candidate, independent, or not vote in the election. Vote in the referendum.
Vote for BC-STV.
STV is much better than that sample ballot would lead voters to believe. There is a much greater choice of candidates in, say, a 4 member constituency. The voters can prefer, in order of choice, 1, 2, 3, etc, the better of two or more candidates from the same party, so they are more responsive to the voters than their party selectors.
Unlike the X-vote, a preference vote is not wasted. If Independents or small party candidates do not achieve the fair share of votes, in a multi-member constituency needed to win a seat, their voters’ order of choice can include next prefered candidates.
But most voters’ first preferences do count to elect representatives: 74% did in 2007 Scottish local elections, which proportionly represented Scotland’s main 4 parties, as well as small party representation like the Greens.
STV in Malta has stayed a two-party system. But where there are more parties, the preference vote allows voters to prefer candidates across party lines, thus democraticly prefering a coalition with a majority to govern.
I whole heartedly agree with the comments left above about a switch to SVT meaning that preference votes are not wasted. And also that politicians will have to work harder or risk being ranked lower (or not at all) on the ballot.
But that only just begins to scrape the surface of the benefits of STV.
We’ll get an electoral system which more accurately reflects voter choices. It is quite simply more fair. Our current system does not represent the voters’ interests. In the 1996 general election the NDP formed government even though they received 40,000 fewer votes. In the 2001 the Liberal government ended up with SUCH a huge majority in the house that there were only two members of opposition in the legislature – and this in spite of the fact that the liberals only got 43% of the vote. That means that 57% of voters had zero representation in the house for the next four years. How are results like that fair to the voters?
Most countries other than Canada have discarded the first past the post system for some sort of proportional system. It is archaic, undemocratic and unfair. I want to participate in an electoral system which allows me to find someone who represents me and my interests. I want a system in which members of the same party have to compete for my vote, because if they are weak MLAs, they aren’t going to be picked as my number 1 on the ballot. I haven’t found a party which really represents me and what I believe in. The STV will allow me choose the candidates who most closely represent what I like and the issues I would like brought forward. It will allow me to choose the candidates who are most active in my community, and who take their responsibility to their voters seriously. If you want that too, I recommend voting for the stv on May 12th.