Will this result in a fractured coalition government that is incapable of making a decison quickly?

From what I’ve read (since I’ve never lived or visited), I understand that India has exactly this problem. While their situation may not be caused by STV as I’m suggestion in this question, I wonder if this is a possible outcome.

Post your responses to these questions, pose other questions or concerns and let’s have a conversation about this.  The shape of our democracy deserves our attention.

For more questions and discussion on this topic: Click Here

Can the system be gamed?  In Question 2, I asked if this will just concentrate the votes for a single party.  Here, I’m asking if voters will vote for a weak choice as their second option and thus skew the results.

For example, will a voter who is a staunch NDP supporter select what might be an easier opposition party to deal with in the legislature (such as an independent candidate)?

Will this just concentrate the votes and result in more disproportional representation and have exactly the opposite of the desired effect?

Is it reasonable to assume that people will actually rank all of the candidates,or knowing that 3 MLA’s will be elected, will they just rank the four from the party that they would like to see in power.

I have a tough time believing that even a mildly enthusiastic NDP supporter would put a Liberal in any position among the top 3, or vice versa. (See the next question to look at the possibility of using this to game the system)

So here’s the question: Does this lead to a danger of having one area in the region that votes heavily for one party overwhelming the other regions?

Here’s a model of what I’m concerned about.  Because of the simplicity of this model, I’m nearly certain that the results would be different in real life.  That’s the point of this post, I’m looking for the truth, so feel free to comment and enlighten me.

I’ve assumed here that if people just vote among party lines and rank only the top 3 candidates.  Take a look at Try BC-STV and you’ll see how this could happen fairly easily, particularly if people aren’t completely sure how the new voting system works.

What if this happens

Post your responses to these questions, pose other questions or concerns and let’s have a conversation about this.  The shape of our democracy deserves our attention.

For more questions and discussion on this topic: Click Here

Given the goal of more proportional representation in our provincial legislative body, has the implementation of STV been shown in other jurisdictions to have provided that?  For example has the representation in legislature in terms of seats lined up with the popular vote?

On the other side of the coin, have any jurisdictions who’ve put this into place repealed it after using it?

Post your responses to these questions, pose other questions or concerns and let’s have a conversation about this.  The shape of our democracy deserves our attention.

For more questions and discussion on this topic: Click Here

If you’ve had the chance to listen to my show, you’ll note that we don’t’ cover politics regularly.  It isn’t that I don’t like politics, but rather that I don’t feel I have enough background in the area of public policy to ask effective questions on my toes.  So I stick with what I know, business, marketing, technology, relationships, etc.

Note: If you haven’t listened to my show, I hope you’ll take a few minutes and explore my website to see if there’s something that interests you.  I’ve learned a TON in the last year from it and listeners tell me that they have too.

But I have a problem as a voter during this provincial election.

I’m looking at the STV (the single transferable vote) that’s being proposed here in British Columbia.  And I have some questions.

But first, a little background on the STV as I understand it (and the issues behind it).

The goal of a new voting system is to improve the relationship between what the public votes for and the results that they get in a legislative body. (If I’ve gotten this or anything else wrong here, feel free to correct me by leaving a comment).

The proponents of the STV say that the system will prevent voter disenfranchisement and create more proportional results in our legislature.

Critics say that it is confusing and overcomplicated and won’t result in more proportional representation.

I’ve researched it using the following websites, which unfortunately is more than what I believe most voters will do.  That is not a proclamation of superiority, but rather an admission that this is more research than I did on the subject before I voted on it in the last referendum on the issue.

BC-STV Electoral Reform

No STV

This website shows what the current election would look like under a BC-STV system: Try BC-STV

After my research, I feel confident that I can explain the concept, but I have some nagging doubts that I need some answers to.

I’ve broken up all of the questions into separate posts – click here to see them.