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Post by Admin on Oct 3, 2017 17:17:40 GMT
Instant Runoff Voting
Vote123 is about creating a Free & Fair Electoral System.
Vote123 is a easy expression of the use of ranked ballots (IRV) in general elections. With the ranked ballot the voter is free to rank the list of candidates on the ballot, without fear of wasting their vote. The elected candidate also needs a MINIMUM of 50%+1 of the voter's support in order to be elected. With the ranked ballot it is the MAJORITY of voters that will elect their representatives. This requirement of a Majority means that the Electorate is much more represented in the Legislature (Electorate-Proportional).
Vote123 requires a minimum of changes - the ridings stay the same - the ballots stay the same. The only change is how the VOTER marks his ballot. With most systems the Voter just puts a single-X beside the candidate they support. With Vote123 the Voter prioritizes the list of candidates - 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, etc. If the Voter's 1st choice is dropped due to not enough voter support, the Voter's vote is NOT WASTED, but transferred to their 2nd choice, this continues until 1 of the candidates has over 50% voter support and is elected. This means "Every Vote Matters".
Vote123 (IRV) unites the Electorate's voice as ONE to give clear direction in how we are governed. Having a UNITED VOICE is the first-step in taking back our government from the Lobbyists and Corporations. Having a United Voice makes our Representatives and the Parties much more ACCOUNTABLE. It is much more challenging for the Representatives to get a MAJORITY of voter support, than just a MINORITY of support. This requirement of a MAJORITY permits the Electorate to make our Representatives MORE ACCOUNTABLE.
First-Step in reclaiming our Sovereignty is to have a clear and united VOICE. Corporations have more Sovereignty over Canada's resources than Canada does. Corporations have rights to export Canadian "Raw Logs", export "Canadian Jobs" as they see fit, create more "Pipelines". We demand our government to stop these actions, but our government is limited by such agreements as the "Free-Trade" act and other similar acts. We can only take back our Sovereignty with a UNITED AND CLEAR VOICE.
Vote123 (IRV) is not Party-Proportional Representation! |
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Post by Admin on Oct 17, 2017 20:09:28 GMT
Every Vote Matters:
This does not mean that every vote will elect a Representative. The elected Representative requires a Majority of Votes and to achieve this every Vote will go towards electing the Representative or NOT. The votes that do NOT elect the Representative will determine if the Representative is elected with a simple-majority or a large-majority. The difference of a simple-majority (50%+1) and a large-majority (55%+) is important to know - as it shows the opposition the elected Representative has in the Riding.
With a simple-majority the Representative has a high degree of opposition in the Riding. With a high degree of opposition the Representative's mandate is not as strong as it could be. If the Representative does not act with a degree of caution, the Representative could easily lose their simple-majority in the next election (including any by-election).
With a large-majority the Representative has less of a opposition. The Representative has a much stronger mandate. With a strong mandate the Representative can represent the Electorate in their Riding with more confidence.
NOTE: This concern of the "opposition" is part of the "Minority Rights" that the Majority needs to respect in a Democratic System.
This is how "Every Vote Matters", even the votes that do not elect a Representative "Matters".
Election Campaigns:
With "Every Vote Matters" will create major changes in how Election Campaigns are run. The campaigns will be much more civil and contain much more substance. Less negative campaigns and attack ads.
The reason for this change is the fact that the Voter is now Ranking the Candidates. If a Candidate is not able to be the Voter's 1st choice, they want to be the Voter's 2nd choice or at least their 3rd choice. If the Candidate attacks the Voter's 1st choice, the Voter will likely put the Candidate as their Last choice. The Candidate would be better off remaining courteous to their opposing Candidates, to challenge their opposing Candidates with more substance in their campaigns. With more substance the Candidate may be able to convince the Voter to move them to their 1st choice. Making "Every Vote Matters" puts an END to Negative Campaigns! |
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Post by Admin on Oct 19, 2017 10:37:17 GMT
Size Matters
The size of the Individual Ridings or Constituencies relate to having Local Representation. IRV maintains the Ridings as they currently are - 87 single-member ridings. The Local Representation is kept. The Voice and connection of the Local Community is represented in the Legislature. This connection of Community and Legislature keeps the Community an active participant in the Government. When we loose this connection there is a feeling of loss in the Community's participation.
Any form of Proportional Representation requires large multi-member Ridings. It is the multi-member Ridings that attempts to bring Party-Proportionality to the Legislature. The Ridings will range in size from 2X there current size to 10X there current size. The Community connection is greatly diluted and with the really large Ridings the Community connection is lost completely. This loss of Community connection with the Legislature disenfranchise the Community from the Government.
This is not just Theory - it is experience learned. Ireland has used the STV system since 1920 (almost 100 years of experience). Ireland use to have large STV Ridings with a max. of 10-members to be elected. This produced a good Party-Proportionality in their House, but at what COST. They found that the loss of the Local Connection was too high a price to pay for Party-Proportionality. They now have STV Ridings ranging from a min. of 3-members to be elected to a max. of 5-members to be elected. The Irish found a BALANCE between Party-Proportionality and Local Connection. With the smaller Ridings of 5-members max. reduced their Party-Proportionality in their House, but keeping the Local Connection was more valuable. The Irish learned that "Size Matters" the hard way.
IRV keeps the Ridings as single-member Ridings. This maintains a STRONG Community and Legislature connection, and the Local Community stays as a strong participant in the Government.
Ballots:The size of the Ballots are also an issue to be aware of. With single-member Ridings the Ballots average about 8 Candidates listed. Less than 10 Candidates is a reasonable number for the average Voter to consider. Most average Voter is able to have a variable read on most if not all the Candidates.
With multi-member Ridings the number of Candidates greatly increase depending on the number of Candidates to be elected. One can expect about 8 Candidates listed for each Candidate to be elected - a 3-member Riding will have a list of about 24 Candidates - a 5-member Riding will have a list of about 40 Candidates - the more Candidates to be elected the larger the list becomes. MMP has large multi-member regional Ridings that could easily have more than 10 Candidates to be elected - a list of about 80 Candidates or more. The worse example of this is Holland that has Ballots with 300 Candidates listed.
The problem with these long lists of Candidates is that the Voter is unable to have any level of awareness on so many Candidates. With STV that uses the Ranked Ballot, no one is going to Rank 24 or more Candidates. Not Ranking enough of the Candidates leads to a high number of "exhausted" Ballots. Exhausted Ballots is when the Ballot has run out of Candidate chosen - the Ballots Last Candidate was dropped and there is no other Candidate indicated for the Ballot to be transferred to. A high number of "Exhausted" Ballots can have a negative affect in the Election result. Another concern is that the Candidates at the top of the Ballot can have a unfair advantage - with large lists the Voter will often just pick the first few Candidates, not wanting to go through a long list.
These issues with long list of Candidates on the Ballots is also not just Theory. Australia continues to have problems with their long list of Candidates. They have tried a number of methods to try and deal with the issues (except to have smaller Ridings);
1. They require the Voter to Rank a MINIMUM number of Candidates. (Trying to reduce the number of "Exhausted" Ballots)
2. They have to randomize the list of Candidates on the Ballot so the Candidates at the top of the Ballot are different. (Reduces the number of Candidates that have a unfair advantage) 3. They introduced " Above-Line" voting option. "Above-Line" voting permits the Voter to simply vote for a Party and not a Candidate. (Australia has STV - "Above-Line" voting is a component of MMP. It makes it easy for the Voter as they do not need to go through a long list of Candidates.) Australia is still having problems with the SIZE of their Ballots. IRV keeps the List of Candidates on the Ballots to below 10 Candidates. |
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Post by maryann on Oct 25, 2017 17:25:48 GMT
Lots to consider here. Information on Instant Runoff Voting sounds quite "do-able" - as easy as Vote 123you might say!
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Post by Admin on Dec 23, 2017 5:41:56 GMT
Size does matter:
In Australia last election of their Senate the ballots were extremely long. Here is a video of a Australian complaining about the size of the ballots. The ballot was for electing 6 Senators and had over 80 candidates listed on a ballot over a meter long. Here is the voters own words. The Senate elections are with STV election system.
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