Post by Admin on Jan 11, 2018 12:06:00 GMT
Political Parties and Instant Runoff Voting (IRV):
1. IRV is not Proportional Representation (PR). PR is basically focused on Party-Proportionality in the government. PR assures the Parties to have seats in the government. The threshold is usually around 5% of the Popular Vote. As long as a Party has a minimum of 5% of the Popular Vote the Party will have a minimum of 5% of the House seats. IRV does not assure any Party of any House seats!
2. IRV uses the Ranked Ballot in a single-representative riding. With a single-representative being elected and the voter prioritizing the candidates means there is less focus on the Party and there is more voter focus on the candidates. This shift in the focus results from the voter prioritizing the list of candidates. The voter’s 1st choice may be on the Party of their choice, but their 2nd choice and 3rd choice will shift to the candidates. This shift in focus is not in the best interest of the Parties. This shift in focus also hampers Parties from parachuting candidates into local ridings. IRV shifts the voter’s focus from the Parties to the candidates!
3. IRV requires a high quota of voter support in the riding. The elected riding representative needs a minimum of 50%+1 of the votes cast to be elected. This high quota of support is not easy to achieve or to maintain from election to election. It means that the representative is much more accountable and responsive to the riding’s electorate. IRV strengthens the local representation!
These are 3 major reasons why Political Parties, Politicians, and Political Scientists do not support Instant Runoff Voting (IRV).
IRV is often confused with STV that is a form of PR. STV is when multi-representative ridings are used. IRV is with a single-representative riding.
We need the IRV Petition to be assured that IRV is an option for the voters to select or not - IRV Petition