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Canadian election: vote swapping
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fred_h
Oct 9, 08 8:33
Post #1 of 6 (96 views)
Canadian election: vote swapping
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Well it seems the latest trend in election (at least on the Canuck side) is vote swapping with a bunch of websites popping left and right trying to find a pair of voters to agree to swap their votes.
Similarly, their is a similar concept with the Environment movement (not necesarily linked to the Green party) for folks to vote for the environment (which means do not vote for the Conservative).
There is no doubt the way people are voting is changing because of the Internet. Will the politicians actually realize that and adjust or they will not because it is only a minority of the population right now?
Fred.
Brent F
Oct 9, 08 9:20
Post #2 of 6 (84 views)
Re: Canadian election: vote swapping [fred_h]
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Elections Canada has deemed online vote-swapping to be legal but warned that the scheme could be used to dupe voters into casting their ballot for certain parties.
"It's not an offence to tell your friend you think they should vote in a certain way, and it's not an offence to say 'Yeah, I think that's a great idea.' It is an offence to accept money or to offer money for that,"
Vote swapping won't work in my riding because the incumbent has 80-90% support (I live in Harper's riding).
Deej
Oct 9, 08 12:34
Post #3 of 6 (59 views)
Re: Canadian election: vote swapping [fred_h]
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Perhaps it’s obvious, but the sheer existence of such tactic should indicate the desperate need we have for a form of proportionate representation. I don’t know enough about coalition politics, but it sounds like a better way to conduct a minority parliament to me, and I just can’t stand that I have to consider wasting my vote defensively, so let’s give it a shot.
What sucks to me is that whether we end up with a majority or minority Conservative win, it won’t make any difference because the opposition parties will not want to trigger an election for a few years, again, giving an effective majority either way.
That doesn’t stop me from voting though, I did at the advance polls, but I voted for who I wanted to vote for - strategically, but not defensively and I’m glad I did.
Head down, thumbs up, give'r
fred_h
Oct 9, 08 12:44
Post #4 of 6 (50 views)
Re: Canadian election: vote swapping [Deej]
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The problem I have with the system (while I did not vote while I lived in the US since I never became a US citizen, I voted when I used to live in France) is: what am I voting for?
If I look @ my riding. I do not like my current MP. He is conservative (this is not necesarily the reason. It is just the way it is). However let's say I prefer Harper to the other 4 guys to be my prime minister (for the sake of the example).
Ideally I would like to be able to vote for my MP and PM separately.
Fred.
Brent F
Oct 9, 08 13:26
Post #5 of 6 (47 views)
Re: Canadian election: vote swapping [fred_h]
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In Reply To
The problem I have with the system (while I did not vote while I lived in the US since I never became a US citizen, I voted when I used to live in France) is: what am I voting for?
If I look @ my riding. I do not like my current MP. He is conservative (this is not necesarily the reason. It is just the way it is). However let's say I prefer Harper to the other 4 guys to be my prime minister (for the sake of the example).
Ideally I would like to be able to vote for my MP and PM separately.
Fred.
That’s the difference between a parliamentary system and a presidential system.
You can vote for the PM by joining each of the political parties and vote for their leader (I’m not sure if you can join the Bloc if you don’t live in Quebec).
Sometimes the MP in your riding for the person you want as PM is a moron and you have to choose - Vote for the moron to help get your PM choice in or vote for the best candidate and don't support who you want as PM. I have had this problem in the past where there was a wack job in my riding for the party I liked.
My riding has both the Conservative and the Libertarian party leaders running in it so I’m one of only about 100,000 people that can cast a vote for or against the current Prime Minister.
I used to live in a riding where the premier at the time was running (Don Getty). His govenment won the majority of seats but he lost his seat. They had to have a bielection quickly to get him a seat in the house so he could sit as Premier. Getty had to sit in the press gallery while the house was in session until he won a seat.
Brent F
Oct 9, 08 13:29
Post #6 of 6 (46 views)
Re: Canadian election: vote swapping [Deej]
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In Reply To
Perhaps it’s obvious, but the sheer existence of such tactic should indicate the desperate need we have for a form of proportionate representation. I don’t know enough about coalition politics, but it sounds like a better way to conduct a minority parliament to me, and I just can’t stand that I have to consider wasting my vote defensively, so let’s give it a shot.
What sucks to me is that whether we end up with a majority or minority Conservative win, it won’t make any difference because the opposition parties will not want to trigger an election for a few years, again, giving an effective majority either way.
That doesn’t stop me from voting though, I did at the advance polls, but I voted for who I wanted to vote for - strategically, but not defensively and I’m glad I did.
The problem with proportionate representation is we have 5 major parties so would never have a majority government.
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