Ontario Votes on Voting
September 13, 2007 – 12:57 pmOn October 10, Ontarians will be voting for a new government, and also for a new voting procedure: if enough people say ‘yes’, we will shift to a Mixed Member Proportional system. The details are on the web, but basically this gives everyone two votes: one for a (geographic) riding member, the other for a party list. Seats will be split 90/39, and only parties pulling 3% or more for the list vote will get seats, which will shut out most of the nuts and extremists. It’s a good system; it’s certainly a big improvement over what we have now.
The devil, though, is in the details. In order for it to pass, at least 60% of all referendum ballots must say ‘yes’, and 50% of the voters in at least 64 electoral districts have to give it the thumbs-up. Given how little campaigning there has been, I’m betting that most voters won’t bother to check either option, so it will fail by default. That would be a shame: adding some proportionality to our current system would go a long way toward breaking the self-serving cycle of “gotta be in office to get elected”.
So please, get out and vote, and vote “yes”.
3 Responses to “Ontario Votes on Voting”
Greg, do you know if the “50% of the voters in at least 64 districts” number is referring to ‘eligible voters’, ‘voters who cast any ballot’, or ‘voters who cast a referendum ballot’? There’s a big difference in those numbers.
IIRC B.C.’s referendum failed because the government considered a voter who voted in the election, but didn’t cast a referendum ballot, to have voted for the status quo.
By Neil on Sep 13, 2007
Vote “yes”? The ballot has two choices: First Past The Post, and Mixed Member Proportional.
Vote for MMP.
By Wilf Day on Sep 14, 2007
The amount of talk about strategic voting in the past few years shows how much we need to change the current FPTP system.
However, I agree that due to the lack of advertising around the referendum that lots of people won’t vote for either option - thus keeping the current system in place.
By Rob on Sep 15, 2007