Vote Pairing - A way to counter our election system's many flaws
As you know, Canadians must vote for a particular member of parliament in the riding we currently reside in.
There are many problems with that, without going into too many details as to why it's a problem, the main issue with this is improper representation. If we live in a political stronghold where X's party's MP is certain to be elected, the rest of the votes casted towards other MPs basically bleed into nothingness. This becomes especially frustrating when the party you want to bring to power is largely overshadowed by the party you want to deny power.
But, what if you could give your vote away to another riding? Vote in a riding where 300 votes can make the difference between a Conservative MP or a Liberal MP. Wouldn't you rather vote in a riding where you can actually tip the scale? I know I would.
Here's the tool that let's you do that: http://votepair.ca/
On this website you can register and give information as to the party you want to elect, the riding you reside in, the other parties you are willing to vote in an exchange.
Here's an example. Let's say I want to vote a Liberal MP and am willing to vote for Bloc or NPD. Someone from a riding where there's a tight race between conservatives and liberal would be a good place for me to vote. But let's say in my riding, it's a close race between NPD and Conservative.
I could strategically vote for NPD to try and keep the conservatives away if that was indeed my wish. But in my case, trading my vote with someone with that previously mentioned riding would be the most beneficial. Let's say that other person want's to elect an NPD and I want to elect a Liberal, we both exchange our votes, I vote in his riding, he votes in mine. That way, we both vote for the party we want and CAN make a difference while simultaneously striking the conservatives on 2 fronts at a time. If enough people get involved in exchanges like this, we end up getting a MUCH more effective voting power.
The way this works is simple, when a match is made, both members of the pair contact each other by e-mail and confirm that he/she will vote what the other wants and vice versa. It takes a lot of trust, but most people who will use such a tool are sensible and want to make a difference.
Keep in mind that abusing this tool/stealing other people's identities to coax others into voting for your party is by every means illegal and punishable by law.
Last pairing starts in 2 days! So start signing up and spread the word!
