BC-STV Animation

This fun animation shows how BC-STV would work. Its as easy as 1,2,3..

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• bc-stv
• stv
• bcstv
• citizens assembly

[SplendidImaginings]

It is a DAMN SHAME this did not go through. The arguments against: It's complicated, and it's not proven to work. WELL....

1) Politics is complicated. The problems are complicated. It needs a complex answer. And it's not like YOU PERSONALLY have to calculate it.

2) The current system is without a doubt proven to be a FAILING.

What's the worst that could happen? We end up unrepresented by a bunch of crooks? LOL.

RIP STV. The status quo has conqueored once again.

[cyclingzealot]

No. Wasted votes make politicians less accountable. In the last federal election, 51% of all votes did not count.

In the federal riding of Gatineau, the wining candidate only came in with 29% of the votes. Does she need to represent all the voters to win again?

[uberduke]

What is MLA? And I understand taking second preferences from the least popular candidate (similar to IRV, aka AV), but how you do decide what votes to spread from the most popular, and why do you do this, and how is it proportional if you do this?

[Matpat112]

3) It leads to larger consistuency areas, making politicians more and more detached from those they represent. without familiarity, there is no accountability, without that, democracy cannot function.

[Watermark0n]

Room for lobby groups to control the back room? What?

In a proportional system, seats are simply arranged by amount of support. It's true that in plurality results are somewhat based on the amount of support. But it's rather haphazard. It only really works alright because voters who support an ideology in some areas are overrepresented, and are balanced out by voters who are underrepresented elsewhere. This isn't a rule though; it's perfectly possible for the minority to "win".

[Watermark0n]

You are essentially talking about the merits of a partisan ballot vs. a non-partisan ballot. STV can be used with a non-partisan or partisan ballot. It's just that a lot of people do vote based on party, and it's very convenient to a large number of people to have them grouped by party. As much as you may dislike it this is not absurd; parties certainly represent a certain ideology, and there's nothing wrong with voting for a clear ideology than looking for an independent who votes simialar.

[12wd30]

For BCers who vote by party, previously disenfranchised voters will gain a local political representative under STV. Choosing amongst candidates allows increased voter input in politics - under the current system if you don't like any of the candidates, you're stuck. With STV, you can express a preference for candidates if you so choose. Smaller parties would focus their efforts on one or two candidates to ensure their electability - their efforts would not be in vain, as they are now.

[IMsh0rty]

"The candidates will be grouped by party, so if you know which party you support you can go through the 3 or 4 candidates from them"

Thank you for supporting my point.

Under STV more voters will focus on a party of choice, rather than consider the individual merits of the candidates. Fewer people will consider the merits of voting for an alternative party or an independent, as their individual platforms will be lost in the crowd.

[STVYesCampaign]

Have you ever walked into a video store with 20,000 choices, or turned on a TV with 120 channels?

The candidates will be grouped by party, so if you know which party you support you can go through the 3 or 4 candidates from them. And no, the big parties may run 4 or 4 candidates but small parties won't.

[IMsh0rty]

ALL of the parties will run the maximum number of candidates in each riding. That 3 MLA riding will have at least 3 from each party, plus the independents. Some riding's will have up to 7 MLAs! You could be looking at 25-30 choices on your Ballot! Keeping track of the platforms for the top few candidates currently is a challenge, try keeping track of 30 candidates. STV will result in less informed voter decisions, more votes just on party lines, and no riding accountability for MLAs. IMO.