(1) Improving the present
system
One problem with our present system is that we
have only one vote to cover at least three choices:
-
Who we want to represent our area
-
Which party we want to form the
government
-
Who we want to be Premier
The last two are usually closely related. It
appears that a mixed system, as used in New Zealand and Germany,
with two votes, for party and local representative [MMP], would
greatly remedy this particular problem, as well as achieving a
better relation between number of votes and number of
seats.
(2) Comments on Preferential
Ballots
A Preferential Ballot has been mentioned as one
possibility. In principle it has many good points, but there could
be many practical difficulties too.
On the ballot paper, the voter enters numbers to
indicate his/her order of choice. It would have to be made clear
that "1" refers to the most favoured candidate, and not the least
favoured.
Different people have different handwriting
styles. Some people write "1" with an initial upstroke, and it may
be difficult to decide whether an entry is a "1" or a "7". Also I
have encountered cases where a "4" could be confused with a "9", or
even a "7".
The handwriting problem associated with a
preferential ballot could be overcome by using a ballot with the
design illustrated in:
What happens when the voter does not enter a
consecutive sequence? If a voter entered "1, 2, 2, 4" instead of
"1, 2, 3, 4" because he considered his second and third choices to
be equal, would that choice be valid, or would it be a spoiled
ballot? There are many other possibilities, and the criteria for
spoiled ballots could be quite complicated.
If the outcome is not decided on the first count,
the counting process could become quite long and
tedious.
Many of these problems could be overcome by using
computers. However, computer voting has its problems too. I have
come across several articles on this topic. They are too extensive
to include here, but they are available on my personal website
at:
Is a non-party system being considered as
one
possibility? How is it working in
Nunavut?