The Alternative Vote

No election method will ever be perfect, but we can unquestionably do better than the first past the post system our country currently uses. Here’s why, in case you missed Carin’s post from about 3 years ago.

Personally I’m not one to engage in strategic voting spoiler effect or no spoiler effect, but though I hate it, I grudgingly understand why a lot of people aren’t me. Whether my guy wins or not, I sleep better at night knowing that at least I tried for him. I just cant’ sell myself out and game our fatally flawed system based on what some polls say my neighbours are thinking, because though they have some value, I don’t much trust election polls. Hello there, 2014 Ontario election.

I wish more people thought my way, but they don’t. And that’s why we need a new system. And here’s that animal kingdom guy again to go over the pros and cons of one that sounds, to me anyway, pretty promising. It’s called the alternative vote, or the ranked vote for short.

Not only would it give us majority governments that got an honest to god majority vote, but watching all the eliminations would feel a bit like sports or American Idol. And since most of us like at least one of those things, there’s a chance people could maybe get invested in the process again. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

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