Manitou only knows how we're struggling to find democratic reform for our ailing electoral system. At the moment some type of proportional representation is the favoured approach.
I have another idea, one that may even be superior to proportional rep.
How many of us have dutifully dragged ourselves to the polls only to have to hold our noses and cast a ballot for the least odious of a motley crew of candidates and their respectively odious parties? I know I certainly have. Yes I have voted for representatives when I was less than convinced that any of the candidates or their parties deserved my support. And I suspect a great many people who don't vote at all stay away from the polls for that very reason. Here's a modest proposal.
Add one option to the ballot. Allow the conscientious citizen, who honours their obligation to vote, the option to be heard without voting for any of the candidates. Give that voter the option, instead of voting in favour of some candidate, the privilege of voting against one of the candidates on the ballot.
It would be the rectal equivalent of a thermometer measuring the true state of politics in the land. It would be our one chance to express our dissatisfaction with the whole damned business. It would be a bellweather of the legitimacy of the mandate earned by the winning party. And, I'm guessing, it would encourage far greater turnouts at the polls. People would go just to vent, to settle scores, knowing they could strike a blow at Dork A without having to endorse Dork B or Dork C in the process.
And the party that ultimately wins would have to reflect on how many negative votes it suffered against the number of positive votes garnered. That would inject a healthy degree of sobriety into electoral victories. The winner would know how badly it needed to shape up and fly right if it was to stand a chance in the next runoff. The runners up would have their own lesson in the aftermath. For what is an election without a bloody, righteous aftermath? That's what leaves us saddled with governments just like Harper's. See my point?
It will never happen, of course. The governing party and their opposition parties would never permit the electorate to discover how few of us actually support them. They have nothing to gain and oh so much to lose if Canadians were offered a snapshot of what we really think of them. Why they might even have to resort to earning our support, perish the thought.
8 comments:
I'd love to see the removal of party affiliation on the ballot. All candidates would have to ensure that the vote received is for them and not their party affiliation. I imagine that we here in Alberta would have elected fewer lapdogs and perhaps a few quality MPs and MLAs rather than the lumps of coal we often get when Con or PC is associated with the candidate.
There's no guarantee but it's a step toward giving relevance to the actual local candidate.
The easiest way is to insist on a 50%+1 of the cast vote.
All it would take is a number of columns less 1 of candidates,
Then pick from preferred to not.
If your preferred is dumped then you get the highest pick remaining.
Choose to not pick anyone else, you no longer are in the count for 50%+1
Would eliminate vote splitting as the lowest tier candidate in each round would get dropped until one candidate gets 50% of the end result.
Can you imagine a tight 4 way race, Lib, NDO, Tory, Green -
and the swings go to the GREENs?
Multiply that by some percentage -
Talk about upsetting the status quo.
BemusedLurker
My problem with your idea, Lurker, is that it's limited to positive votes. I want negative voters given the chance to express their dissatisfaction in a tangible way.
Refuse the ballot.
Show up, make sure your name has a line through, take the ballot, hand the ballot back and say "I refuse this ballot".
Defacing the ballot by writing "none of the above" on it or drawing lines thru names is just another spoiled ballot.
Refusing the ballot is not a spoiled ballot.
It is counted as a refused ballot.
If several hundred thousand people were to do this it would send a shock wave.
Altho in today's perverse world it would probably take a FoI request to have the results revealed.
Pertinent to my previous - apparently not in BC.
Yes..yes..yes!!! we ought to have the opportunity of saying..."None of the Above".
Anyong, I want to go one step beyond "none of the above" to incorporate a negative vote option, a "Deduct-a-Vote" ballot, in which a voter would not have to vote for anyone but could simply vote against the worst of the lot.
MOS...I'll acknowlege that!!
Post a Comment