cityvote.ca

The city needs a single transferable vote electoral system

by Bruce Krayenhoff
Perspectives Writer, the Ubyssey (UBC's student newspaper)

Friday, November 21st, 2008

The Non-Partisan Association (NPA) won the last election because the left split the vote between the Coalition Of Progressive Electors (COPE) and Vision, but this election, COPE and Vision went in with a united slate, winning nine out of ten council seats with an approximate average of 51 per cent support to the NPA’s 36 per cent, leaving them with nearly no opposition. How did this happen?

We use a municipal electoral system called “block voting,” which is arguably even worse than the unpopular first-past-the-post system we use provincially and federally. Block voting is rife with vote splitting so that, as with our provincial and federal elections, election results depend more on which parts of the political spectrum are united than on what voters actually want. Block voting also tends to let the largest block/party sweep all the seats. Fortunately, some voters vote across party lines to ensure that there are a few opposition councillors (or one NPA councillor in this case) to hold the sweeping block (in this case the COPE/Vision slate) accountable.

Vancouver can fix all these problems by adopting the single transferable vote electoral system (STV). Under STV, voters rank candidates first, second, third, etc., so that if they can’t get their first choice, their vote will count for their second or third choice. This means people can vote their conscience without fear of vote splitting or wasted votes. STV is also a proportional system, which will ensure that voters get the representation they voted for and that there is always a healthy opposition to hold the ruling party/coalition accountable. By making every vote count and providing more choice, STV may also help improve the abysmal 30 per cent voter turnout of this municipal election.

More locally, Maria Harris won Electoral District A with under 30 per cent of the vote due to vote splitting among the other four candidates, finishing just ahead of Ben West. When electing a single person, a proportional electoral system that represents the diversity of voters’ concerns is not possible. However, in the single-member form of STV, instant-runoff voting, can still prevent vote splitting and ensure a democratic result that is not at odds with the wishes of the majority.

Until we ditch our archaic winner-take-all voting systems for sensible electoral systems that take voters’ preferences seriously (like STV does), election results will be determined more by who runs than by voters’ wishes, and people will not get the governments they want.