Is this the Greens last federal campaign?

[TTM]

In practical terms, no voting system gives every single ballot equal mathematical weight. Such a system is impossible, and every voting system is basically a compromise.

Straight proportional does (not that I favour it). No representative system can though.

That's why I'm more in line for preferential voting systems like Single Transferable Vote and Alternative Vote. These "redistribute" vote weights but don't completely undermine the capacity for large parties to still grab the majority of seats.

Pretty much any proportional type system can be tweeked by adding a threshold below which you don't get any seats.

[Bonam]

Straight proportional does (not that I favour it).

Only to an approximation.

[TTM]

Only to an approximation.

Ignoring fractions of a seat. My bad.

[M.Dancer]

Clearly, in that election, a BQ vote was worth more than a Conservative vote, which was worth more than a Liberal vote, and so on. If all votes were equal, then parliament would have looked like this (ignoring independents, parties with fractional seats):

Of course not. In the ridings the Bloc contended the votes cast for them were counted exactly the same way as the votes counted for the other candidates, one at a time.

Just because 4 out of a 100 in a riding vote Green does not mean they should have anyone elected..because clearly, the vast majority of the constituents in the riding do not want a green.

If all votes were equal, then parliament would have looked like this (ignoring independents, parties with fractional seats):

All votes are equal...what you suggest eliminates local politics which in my opinion is regressive.

[GWiz]

The OP asks >

Is this the Greens last federal campaign?

Perhaps, perhaps not...

OMHO the Greens main problem is that, unlike any other party that has seats in parliament today, they didn't "evolve" from within, they're trying to get in...

A difference the Greens may want to change by joining with a current major political party FIRST... The party that reflects their point of view and policies most closely...

[Oleg Bach]

Have you seen any of the photos of the Green candidates? I have seen a couple and one looks like an inbred hippy child nerd girl...I like idealism as well as the rest -but this is a tough world and the Greens are like their forebares - Steal their pound of pot at a rock concert - and they will wither in liberality as they give the peace sign to the bikers that ripped them off.. The Greens might mean well but they are not a strong group - It takes more than wanting to do the right thing- It takes the capablity to do the right thing...They are not vialble because they are not capable.

[cybercoma]

A difference the Greens may want to change by joining with a current major political party FIRST... The party that reflects their point of view and policies most closely...

The party that matches up closest with them is the Bloc Québecois. I don't think joining their ranks would help them.

[GWiz]

The party that matches up closest with them is the Bloc Québecois. I don't think joining their ranks would help them.

Nope, try again...

[TTM]

Of course not. In the ridings the Bloc contended the votes cast for them were counted exactly the same way as the votes counted for the other candidates, one at a time.

Just because 4 out of a 100 in a riding vote Green does not mean they should have anyone elected..because clearly, the vast majority of the constituents in the riding do not want a green.

Right, these votes are counted one at a time, until one candidate reaches a plurality (not a majority). The wishes of the remaining voters (often a majority) is discarded; they provide no input into the makeup of the government. Every individuals vote should have some input, no matter how small, into the makeup of government. Anything else is flawed.

I live in Saskatchewan. We elect, with one exception, Conservatives. While Conservative support is strong (~50% last election), the reason for this continuing near complete dominance is due to riding gerrymandering: the strong NDP/Liberal support in the cities is diluted by breaking the large cities into multiple ridings that contain an even larger rural populations. Simply redistributing the ridings would consistently reduce the number of seats that the Conservatives win in SK. The results of voting should not be affected by arbitrary political boundaries. This distorts voter representation.

In my own riding, the candidate representing the party I would like to vote for is 3rd, by a fair margin (note they represent one of the three major parties). If I vote for this person it is effectively the same as not voting. So I can either waste a vote or vote strategically for one of the two candidates who have a shot. Any system in which a voter is discouraged from voting for who their preferred choice is flawed.

Obviously no system beyond a Direct Democracy can entirely cure these flaws, but FPTP is pretty much the bottom of the barrel when it comes to electoral systems.

All votes are equal...what you suggest eliminates local politics which in my opinion is regressive.

Sure, all votes contribute equally to the process, however all votes do not contribute equally to the results. In a fair system, both must be true.

As far as local politics, I prefer a mixed system, with voters voting for both a party and a local candidate. The local candidate wins FPTP style, but a number of seats are reserved and candidates are chosen from a party list to fill the reserved seats, so that the proportions of parties in parliament roughly represent the popular percentages of the parties (based on the party vote).

As far as local representation, we get near 0 representation from our MP. This is true of the entire Conservative contingent from this province. The local media tends to call them the "Missing 13", amongst other things. They will probably be re-elected. A tree stump could be re-elected for the Conservative party in some ridings.

Edited April 8, 2011 by TTM