The Grass Is Greener.ca

My goal was to come up with a system that didn’t require vote transfers, didn’t require top-up seats, didn’t complicate the actual act of voting, allowed independents to contest every seat (except for Leaders seats obviously), and didn’t require a boundaries commission. At several points in the development process I was pretty sure it was impossible, so to get some feedback from people that it’s at least a plausible option is very gratifying!

One person observed that Continue reading “More questions and comments about EasyPR”

I’ve received several comments and questions about EasyPR, so I thought I’d address them below.

Some people noted Continue reading “Comments and questions about EasyPR, and my responses”

While we call our electoral system by its unaffectionate nickname of “first past the post” (FPTP), it’s more properly described as single member plurality (SMP). Under this system one person is elected in each riding (hence “single member”) and you don’t need a majority of votes, the largest plurality of votes is good enough (hence “plurality”).

I’d like to introduce a variation that I call EasyPR. It takes the simplicity of first-past-the-post, but makes it proportional. EasyPR introduces a high degree of proportionality, with a minimum of change to how we vote or how those votes are counted. It includes a “Leader Seats” wrinkle that will make it a lot more interesting to voters, and encourage supporters of smaller parties not to strategically vote for someone else. I am proposing EasyPR as a replacement for first-past-the-post in BC’s provincial elections. Let me show you how it works:

Continue reading “Introduction to EasyPR”

For the 1999 election, Ontario switched from their previous provincial riding boundaries to the federal ridings. This resulted in a reduction in ridings from 130 down to 103. It was genius in that 103 elected representatives was likely quite adequate for a provincial legislature, and adopting the federal ridings meant that the Elections Ontario was no longer burdened with the task of redrawing the ridings as Ontario’s population changed. That would simply be done for them from time to time by Elections Canada, on the federal government’s dime.

The point has been made that BC could do something similar, and adopt the 42 federal ridings in BC as the basis of a new PR system (particularly if it were a Continue reading “BC’s federal ridings as a basis for PR, part 1 – MMP”

I recently looked at possible stop-gap PR systems, ones that could be implemented for a single election as a temporary replacement for first-past-the-post (FPTP). I thought it would be fun to run the 2017 election under the Top Candidates PR system.

Based on the popular vote, the parties in the 2017 BC Provincial Election should have Continue reading “The BC Election under Top Candidates PR”

If a jurisdiction was moving from first-past-the-post (FPTP) to a radically different proportional system that required significant changes to riding boundaries, or significant voter education, there may be a need to implement a stop-gap voting system that didn’t require new riding boundaries or voter education.

Here are some options for how one might do that. These systems bring together voter desire for a local representative with the simplicity of FPTP, and yet add proportionality. Nearly perfect proportionality in every case, in fact.

The first one is Continue reading “Possible stop-gap proportional voting systems”

We British Columbians use an “at large” system to elect city councillors even in our biggest cities. It’s a requirement of our Local Government Act that we do so. The exact wording is “every council member must be elected from the municipality at large.”

This has traditionally been interpreted to mean the Continue reading ““At-Large” voting systems”

Many British Columbians would be surprised to learn that most Canadians vote for city councillors under first-past-the-post (FPTP). And, presumably, many Canadians in the rest of the country would be surprised to learn that those of us in BC don’t use FPTP to elect city councillors. Let’s look at that, and at why it matters.

The “ward system” breaks a municipality down into Continue reading “How Canadians vote for municipal councillors (and why it matters)”

Nik Nanos’ weekly tracking poll update is out and it shows the federal Greens at Continue reading “Federal polling update and analysis for 2017/Aug/22”

Today is the BC Green Party convention in Sidney, deep in Adam Olsen’s riding of Saanich North and the Islands (as well as Elizabeth May’s federal riding). This is the only area in Canada that is represented by a Green both federally and provincially, so it’s an understandable choice for a party convention. I had hoped to attend, but staffing levels have kept me at work today. But it’s my lunchbreak, and I saw this and felt is was extremely newsworthy.

John Horgan sent along a letter to Andrew Weaver offering his Continue reading “BC Premier John Horgan thanks BC Greens”