1. The present system allows a party to win a big majority of
seats after having received less than 50% of the votes,
so it must be changed!
2. A form of proportional representation in which party members
choose which of their candidates gain seats in the Legislature
deprives voters of that choice. This is
undemocratic.
3. Overcoming the above mentioned problems can be
done in at least these two ways:
First, one or more run-off elections until a candidate gains
50% or more of the votes. . This would be more
expensive and time-consuming, but maybe worth it.
Secondly. voters assign a number to each candidate. For
instance, if there are five candidates running, I might
vote:
Jones
2
Smith
1
Brown
4
Wood 5
Taylor
3
This would mean that my first choice was Wood, my second choice,
Brown, my third, Taylor etc.
OR, the first choice could be marked 1;
2nd choice, 2; etc. as shown below:
Jones
4
Smith
5
Brown
2
Wood
1
Taylor
3
In the above system, the total votes for each candidate would be
counted. This would enable voters to express second
choices, and even indicate whom they least
liked! Even with this system there might be
a need for a run-off vote. I know that some
people will argue that we voters won't be intelligent enough to
manage assigning appropriate numbers to the list of candidates, but
that's an insulting under-estimation!
My vote would be for the above system: the assigning
of numbers.
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