Ranked Ballot Voting In Ontario?

[August1991]

Delete.

Edited February 27, 2014 by August1991

[August1991]

You treat politics like a team sport, I don't.

Like it or not, it is. For two reasons - and then a twist.

First, most people (LIV) don't have the time/energy to figure out who to vote for. They vote for a brand - a team. Political parties create an "image". (Uh, duh?)

Second, people like to belong. Voters vote to affirm their membership in the club - a team. (I saw this recently as the CBC told me how many gold medals "I" had won.}

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The twist? It makes no sense to vote. Your single vote changes nothing.

I ask this question of you, Mighty AC, and all posters to MapleLeafForum: Did your vote - ever, in any election - change the final result? Whatever the voting system - even under PR (proportional representation) - if you had not voted that day, would the result have been different?

So, let's be honest. Your vote was a waste of time.

Edited February 27, 2014 by August1991

[Mighty AC]

The twist? It makes no sense to vote. Your single vote changes nothing.

For the most part you're right. However, my riding was once won by roughly 100 votes, so my ballot felt closer to meaningful. I'm sure some red an blue team members were kicking themselves for not showing up.

Voting systems do make a small difference though. Under our current FPTP system any vote cast for a losing candidate creates absolutely no representation at all. So for over half of the people that actually show up to fill out a ballot, it is identical to not voting. However, under a proportional system like MMP, every single vote is part of the tally that ultimately shapes the proportion of parties in parliament. In that case every vote does count and every vote is equal. To me, fair is important.

A ranked ballot system is not proportional, but in cases, like mayoral elections, where one representative is being chosen for an area it leads to a candidate more people can live with.

[Mighty AC]

No - a majority IS required, and that's the problem. There's a chance that you won't have a majority - so then what ?

Last place candidates are eliminated so a majority is inevitable. Here's how it the instant runoff would work:

Ballots are initially distributed based on each elector's first preference. If a candidate secures more than half of votes cast, that candidate wins. Otherwise, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Ballots assigned to the eliminated candidate are recounted and assigned to those of the remaining candidates who rank next in order of preference on each ballot. This process continues until one candidate wins by obtaining more than half the votes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting

[August1991]

For the most part you're right. However, my riding was once won by roughly 100 votes, so my ballot felt closer to meaningful.

"For the most part... "? I'm completely right.

Let me be more blunt: Your single vote in an election has never, ever changed anything. Mighty AC, welcome to a new perspective on what democracy is.

(I think democracy is State power transferred peacefully. Obama, BTW, has described democracy as a competition that many people can see.)

Edited February 27, 2014 by August1991

[Mighty AC]

Collectives make a difference by lending numbers to a cause. Voters become part of a collective. Granted that all plurality systems like FPTP waste more votes than they count. However, there are other systems that do a better job of counting votes fairly.

[Michael Hardner]

Last place candidates are eliminated so a majority is inevitable. Here's how it the instant runoff would work:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting

Aha. Ok, I get it now thanks.

The example I was thinking of was: Linda NDP, Mary Liberal, and June CPC run for election. Linda gets 2 votes, Mary 3 and June 4, with none of the voters opting to rank their ballots. The answer seems to be Linda is eliminating and June wins because she has the majority of the remaining votes but NOT the majority of votes in the election, having 4 out of 9 or less than 50%.