[To see the submission in web format, together with related
information, see
http://www.crucible.ca/evc]
HAVE YOU BEEN DISENFRANCHISED LATELY?
In our current winner-take-all electoral system if your preferred
candidate doesn't win then your political philosophies and
aspirations have no voice in government from your riding. When this
happens the only way that you will have a representative in
government who speak for your political wishes will be if other
ridings happen to elect them.
At what point does it become fair and reasonable for a candidate of
one political philosophy to have the lone voice in government for
his or her riding?
In the ongoing, and increasingly heated, debate about proportional
representation much has been made about the fact that in a
multi-candidate election winners with as little as 40% of the vote
end up representing a riding in which 60% of the voters wanted
somebody else. With a large enough field of well supported
candidates running in a close race it is theoretically possible for
a candidate to win after receiving as little as 30%, or even 20%,
of the votes. In such a bizarre situation is there anyone among us
would think it fair and reasonable that 80% of the voters in such
an unfortunate riding should have no voice in government?
So I ask again "At what point does it become fair and reasonable
for a candidate of one political philosophy to have the lone voice
in government for his or her riding?" Do they need 51% of the votes
for the other 49% not to matter? Do they need 80% for the other 20%
not to matter?
Is there any point at which it is fair and reasonable to say that
the interests and desires of those voters whose candidates lost
don't matter? My answer is a resounding NO!
Based on the firm belief that the interests and desires of all
voters always matter I propose that we adopt the:
THE "EVERY VOTE COUNTS" ELECTORAL SYSTEM
Absolute proportionality based on proxy voting
PROBLEM
We each cast our "one vote" at election time and our Members of the
Legislative Assembly (MLAs) each cast their "one vote" in questions
before the legislature and we all feel secure that we are
fulfilling the democratic ideal of "one person, one vote". In fact,
we are not.
The reality is that the "one vote" of each MLA actually represents
however many votes he or she received from the voters. The
automatic result of this is that the votes of citizens from the
more densely populated ridings count for less than those from the
more sparsely populated ones. Even worse is the fact that all the
votes of the all the citizens who voted for a candidate who wasn't
elected do not count at all.
Instead of a system that guarantees "one person, one vote" we have
one that results in some citizens having a partial vote, and others
having no vote, in the running of our government.
SOLUTION
We can correct this fundamental flaw in our current electoral
process by simply adopting the Every Vote Counts electoral
system!
Under this system each candidate in each riding (win or lose) will
hold proxy to the number of ballots cast in his or her favor in the
election. He or she will hold those proxies until the next election
and will have the right to cast them on behalf of his or her
constituency as follows:
1. The
candidate receiving the highest number of votes in each riding
becomes the "Member of the Legislative Assembly" (MLA) for that
riding until the next election just as they do now.
MLAs conduct the day-to-day affairs of government in exactly the
same way as they do under our current procedures with the sole
exception that all votes in the legislature will be poll votes with
each MLA voting however many proxies he or she is entitled to vote
rather than the current "one MLA one vote" system.
2. Each of
the other candidates running in that riding becomes a "Member for a
Riding Constituency" (MRC) until the next election.
3. MRCs
observe the activities of the MLAs from their home ridings via:
a) any
government sources made available to them,
b) the media,
c) personal
communication with other MRCs (and MLAs) who share their political
philosophies.
4. Each
MRC may then influence the day-to-day affairs of government by:
a) Assigning
the privilege of voting the proxies held by the MRC to any MLA from
any riding whose words and actions in government the MRC believes
are most in harmony with the wishes of the MRC's constituency.
b) Transferring
that privilege away from an MLA whose words and/or actions prove
not to be in such harmony.
c)
Discussing/negotiating their conditions for an assignment or
transfer of that privilege with any MLA involved to ensure that the
expectations of the MRC and the intentions of the MLA are in
harmony.
5. Each
MRC will be free to decide for him or herself how actively to
exercise the right to assign and re-assign his or her proxies
between elections. A personal decision that can be made according
to how much time, energy and resources the MRC has to invest in
moving his or her constituency's agenda forward and/or whether or
not he or she is intending to be a candidate in the next
election.
a) MRCs can simply
assign their proxies once and leave the privilege of voting them
with their chosen MLA until the next election.
b) They can assign
them and only re-assign them when, and if, a significant portion of
their constituency makes it clearly known to them that it wants
them re-assigned.
~ or ~
c) They can keep
themselves constantly aware of what their chosen MLA and other MLAs
are doing in government and be actively involved in trying to
influence those MLAs by re-assigning their proxies whenever they
believe it is in the best interests of their constituency to do
so
6. The
more proxies any MLA holds the right to vote (on behalf of his or
her own constituency) and the privilege to vote (on behalf of
various MRC's constituencies) the more say he or she will have in
conducting the affairs of government. Every vote will count!
SUMMATION
Adopting the Every Vote Counts electoral system in BC will generate
many benefits and can be done quickly and inexpensively with no
changes needed to how we currently run our elections, only in how
we interpret the results and how we implement them in our
legislature!
To find out more about The Every Vote Counts electoral system, its
benefits (45 listed as of this writing), how it might be
implemented, how you can support its implementation and how you can
get in contact with its other supporters please visit
http://www.crucible.ca/evc
levelCMS