We need your help to KNOW HOW THEY VOTE

[atlanticaparty]

Did you know that almost all voting in the Nova Scotia Legislature is NOT recorded?

You have no way of finding out how your representative is voting or even if your representative is present in the House. The Parliament in Ottawa records all votes, so too should Nova Scotia's Legislature. We need recorded votes to make House activity transparent and to give the voters of Nova Scotia the power to assess and hold accountable those who vote in their names.

So join the campaign to have all votes recorded in the Nova Scotia Legislature!

What you can do
1. Sign our petition. Record all votes in the Nova Scotia Legislature Petition
2. Email your MLA. Visit our campaign page for a draft letter and instructions. Atlantica Party
3. Visit the knowhowtheyvote web site. Know How They Vote
4. Forward this to your friends and family.
5. Indicate that you would be prepared to come to a Know How They Vote event.
6. Volunteer.

You can contact us at khtvcampaign@atlanticaparty.ca

 

[FiveParadox]

I oppose your campaign, atlanticaparty, in the interest of the efficiency of Government operations.

Many of the House of Assembly’s votes are voice-only — that is, the Speaker of the Assembly asks for those favourable to the motion to say “yeay”, and for those opposing the motion to say “nay”. In a House of Assembly with only fifty-two members, in almost all cases, this method would (and does) suffice. It would do the people of Nova Scotia absolutely no good to have to stand up for recorded votes dozens of times a day for entirely routine proceedings. The federal House of Commons regularly conducts motions by voice-only, and goes to a recorded vote only when requested by members (and this is exactly what the House of Assembly does).

 

[In Between Man]

*claps, claps*

How ya gonna beat that atlanticaparty? I suspect you can't. Thread Dead.

 

[atlanticaparty]

Without a voting record how will constituents be able to assess how (or what) their representative is doing?

 

[ironsides]

Without a voting record how will constituents be able to assess how (or what) their representative is doing?

That is the idea, they do not want you to know.

 

[Francis2004]

If you wish your MPP to have his or her vote recorded for each and every vote they do, then I suggest you request the following of your Parliament..

Have them set up an Electronic Voting requirement for each MPP.

But keeping that thought in mind, perhaps it is time that locations that require each Parliament to force MPP's and or MP's to record each vote, should also require all constituents to mandatory voting and record your votes as well. If you start to encroach on the rights of your MPP / MP why should they not encroach on yours..

Big Brother needs to be watching everyone equally..

 

[michaelkennedy]

I am glad to see that a debate is starting here!

The method that FiveParadox believes suffices actually does not. Case in point...when Nova Scotia was voting on the issue of gas regulation, at least one member of the Government caucus fervently opposed the bill. However, they didn't have a recorded vote, so we don't know if he was present, if he was absent, if he abstained, if he voted with the government or if he stuck to his guns. The issue of absent vs. present is worthy of its own point...so many MLAs have been regulars in the Not Present category for the 12 votes that were recorded in the last 12 years...citizens deserve to know this don't they? So, the system doesn't suffice because it allows for problems such as these, where we have to depend on subjective rulings on the facts. It doesn't suffice.

The entire issue of government efficiency in its operations is probably the most common argument I have heard against this campaign. We need to keep in mind that democracy is not efficient, nor was it ever meant to be. If efficiency was our goal, we would have chosen Stalinism a long time ago. We didn't, because we value our democracy over efficiency.

Furthermore, if efficiency were at the forefront of MLAs minds, they wouldn't be wasting 2 hours a day spitting out resolutions about local hot-dog sales, barbeques and school pageants. Obviously, efficiency isn't a driving force when it comes to unrecorded votes.

Finally, we can look at the House of Commons as an excellent example of making the process of recording votes fast and efficient while still meeting democratic objectives of 100% recorded votes. They defer all votes until a designated voting period in the week. All MPs know of this period so you don't need to ring the bells for an hour before each vote...they are able to record 10 votes in half an hour.

To Francis2004, I don't think you understand that when one chooses to be a public representative, they surrender a certain degree of privacy. Thats why the Minister of Finance is required to make spending plans public before he goes through with them...thats why the Prime Minister has to be answerable to the Parliament, etc, etc, etc. The idea that MPs have to have all of the same privacy rights when they enter the public forum and when they are acting on behalf of their constituents, is simply a false distortion of reality.

 

[atlanticaparty]

Update:
The Nova Scotia Legislature adjourned on November 5 with only 10 recorded votes out of 67 bill votes.

Prior to this over the 59th and 60th General Assemblies out of 853 bill votes, 12 were recorded!

Left to themselves MLAs will continue 'secret' voting.

Support democracy in Nova Scotia. Support Know How They Vote.

 

[Niflmir]

I oppose your campaign, atlanticaparty, in the interest of the efficiency of Government operations.

Many of the House of Assembly’s votes are voice-only — that is, the Speaker of the Assembly asks for those favourable to the motion to say “yeay”, and for those opposing the motion to say “nay”. In a House of Assembly with only fifty-two members, in almost all cases, this method would (and does) suffice. It would do the people of Nova Scotia absolutely no good to have to stand up for recorded votes dozens of times a day for entirely routine proceedings. The federal House of Commons regularly conducts motions by voice-only, and goes to a recorded vote only when requested by members (and this is exactly what the House of Assembly does).

And that is the most inefficient way of voting ever. Since the speaker has to count. Give everyone a buzzer which is hooked up to a computer: counted and recorded in milliseconds.

Further, legislative efficiency is no argument for undermining democracy. Since, the most efficient process would merely be tyranny, which is clearly preposterous. If you want to argue for efficiency, you first need to argue that democracy is not served by people being able to know that their representatives are doing their jobs.

 

[Cannuck]

The technology today is so ridiculously cheap, there is no real reason for not recording votes....other than some folks not wanting their votes recorded.