STV's

[Ten Packs]

("borrowed" from a friend)

We have a provincial (like state) election here in BC next week. There is a referendum on the Single Transferable Vote. I hope it passes. It is a little confusing but the end result is that independents have more chance of being elected & the government is more likely to represent the popular vote. What it means is that elected representatives will have to be more responsive to their constituency than simply follow the party line. the system works well in Australia & Ireland. Political parties don't like it much as it lowers the influence they have on individual candidates..

Here is how it works:

Your ballot contains the choice of candidates, you indicate your 1st, 2nd 3rd choices, etc. Electoral distircts are made larger so each one now has 2 or 3 representatives rather than one. The total number to be elected remains the same.

Suppose candidate A needs 2000 votes to be elected. He gets 3000. That leaves an excess 1000 votes. The second choices on the ballots are looked at & then those excess 1000 votes distributed by percentage accordingly. If one candidate now reaches the threshold, that candidate is also elected. This allows people to place a second choice vote for an independent they may like or another party. For example you may be a left wing voter but also like the "Green Party". Well you can vote for your socialist party & cast your 2nd choice for the Green party who would not normally have a hope in hell of being elected. If enough do that, the Green party will become the second representative for that district. If we assume the Green party normally collects 10% of the vote overall, that means that they now have a representative, whereas, that 10% would normally be wasted votes.

In other words if you live in an area where your vote never counts, (EG your a left wing voter in a wealthy area or a right wing voter in Skid Row), your vote can actually now count for something.

 

[mrmom2]

I was talking to my neighbor last night and he went in and cast his ballot yesterday and he told me there was a referendum question on the ballot asking if he was in favour of electronic voting machines :evil: I've heard nothing of this has anybody else ? 8O If it's true everybody who cherishes our democracy better go and vote NO to these machines they are easily corrupted and they leave no paper trail .They will lead to dictatorship under the guise of democracy :x Wake up people these machines do not save money they do not promote democracy all they do is make politicians friends rich and kepp the corrupt in power The good old paper ballot has worked fine forever ask yourselves why are the powers that be pushing machines that leave no paper trail on us ?I mean the politicians are not corrupt

 

[LadyC]

Your neighbour is mistaken. The referendum question reads...

Should British Columbia change to the BC-STV electoral system as recommended by the Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform?

Looks like your neighbour doesn't know the difference between electoral and electronic.

Isn't it reassuring that people feel confident enough to vote on things they know nothing about? Even if you don't understand the system, surely we know what the basics are.

Our voting system will remain low-tech for the foreseeable future.

 

[galianomama]

ha! that is way too funny!!!! yes, lady c you are probably right, the guy just read the question wrong.....

omg, i wonder how many people will be doing that? 8O

 

[galianomama]

hey mom - did ya call the guy a doofus? :wink:

 

[mrmom2]

Our city leaders are trotting out the voting machines in our next city elections Lady C so there not as far away as you think 8O

 

[galianomama]

mom - tell me this is not true! 8O that is bad, very bad.....

 

[mrmom2]

It's true I think it was a Diebold machine they should on TV the worst CIA company on the planet :evil:

 

[galianomama]

can't someone complain about this,or let the newspaper know?

 

[Walrus]

I was talking to my neighbor last night and he went in and cast his ballot yesterday and he told me there was a referendum question on the ballot asking if he was in favour of electronic voting machines :evil: I've heard nothing of this has anybody else ? 8O If it's true everybody who cherishes our democracy better go and vote NO to these machines they are easily corrupted and they leave no paper trail .They will lead to dictatorship under the guise of democracy :x Wake up people these machines do not save money they do not promote democracy all they do is make politicians friends rich and kepp the corrupt in power The good old paper ballot has worked fine forever ask yourselves why are the powers that be pushing machines that leave no paper trail on us ?I mean the politicians are not corrupt

Just a little follow-up to your concerns.

I looked into the STV system proposed for BC and it did indeed include an electronic component to the voting. Votes would still be cast in the traditional pencil and paper ballots and the ballots would be scanned by computers to facilitate counting. Unlike the American Diebold systems the paper ballots would be the primary method of recording votes so any questions about confirming the votes would be subject to a hand count. Recounts, for example, would be all by hand as would any count that was contested.