Comments on: Election Blues http://kevinpsiu.ca/blog/2008/10/15/election-blues/ Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:12:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Oliver "The Awesomeness" Gergelj http://kevinpsiu.ca/blog/2008/10/15/election-blues/comment-page-1/#comment-577 Oliver "The Awesomeness" Gergelj Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:50:59 +0000 http://www.unavoidable.ca/?p=150#comment-577 Kevin rocks! Yeah! Thanks for the trip distribution sheet upload. Your site is cool...Bye for now...But I shall be back again new and improved and ready to add more useless comments...Next time Gadget, next time!!! Mwahahaha! Kevin rocks! Yeah! Thanks for the trip distribution sheet upload. Your site is cool…Bye for now…But I shall be back again new and improved and ready to add more useless comments…Next time Gadget, next time!!! Mwahahaha!

]]> By: Wayne Smith http://kevinpsiu.ca/blog/2008/10/15/election-blues/comment-page-1/#comment-576 Wayne Smith Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:20:56 +0000 http://www.unavoidable.ca/?p=150#comment-576 The barrier to getting proportional representation is not "complexity and ambiguity". Nor is it "costs and uncertainty". What is preventing us from getting a fair voting system is resistance from entrenched power. The Catch-22 of voting reform is that you have to get the government to do it, and the government of the day always thinks the voting system that elected them is working just fine, thank you. Winner-take-all give a huge unfair boost to the winners. Proportional representation requires parties to share power, and they are mostly not interested when they've got it, although they are happy to share it when they don't have it. None of the benefits of proportional representation can be had by implementing Instant Runoff Voting in single member districts. It is still winner-take-all voting and reduces all choices to one instead of making sure every vote counts and every voter is represented. When will we have a fair voting system? When voters demand it. That day may come sooner than you think. More and more people are waking up to the unfairness in our current distorted election results. You don't have to be a socialist to realize that it is not good for our country when a separatist party gets half the votes and twice the seats of a party with substantial support in every province. You don't have to be a tree-hugger to see that it is not fair when a party with almost a million votes gets no seats at all. The barrier to getting proportional representation is not “complexity and ambiguity”. Nor is it “costs and uncertainty”. What is preventing us from getting a fair voting system is resistance from entrenched power. The Catch-22 of voting reform is that you have to get the government to do it, and the government of the day always thinks the voting system that elected them is working just fine, thank you.

Winner-take-all give a huge unfair boost to the winners. Proportional representation requires parties to share power, and they are mostly not interested when they’ve got it, although they are happy to share it when they don’t have it.

None of the benefits of proportional representation can be had by implementing Instant Runoff Voting in single member districts. It is still winner-take-all voting and reduces all choices to one instead of making sure every vote counts and every voter is represented.

When will we have a fair voting system? When voters demand it.

That day may come sooner than you think. More and more people are waking up to the unfairness in our current distorted election results. You don’t have to be a socialist to realize that it is not good for our country when a separatist party gets half the votes and twice the seats of a party with substantial support in every province. You don’t have to be a tree-hugger to see that it is not fair when a party with almost a million votes gets no seats at all.

]]>