Strategic Voting 2008

Divided Majority: Sunday October 5th 2008

If you are one of the 4,922,113 (yes that is 4.9 million) progressive voters (i.e. supporting Liberals, N.D.P. and Green Party) whose votes did not elect an MP for their parties in the 2006 federal election (i.e. wasted votes, except for the $1.75 per vote that the government pays each party) you have come to the right place. If you think that your time and effort is worth more than the $1.75 then it is time to use your vote to make a difference not just to make a statement.

Some how strategic voting was always done one riding at a time, which usually means one party loses votes. What I'm suggesting here is a way that would allow each party to receive its fair share of seats and it fair share of votes. This website is an attempt to do just that, to create what you might call a Progressive Voting Bloc (PVB) that would vote for one progressive party in each riding. I used the last federal election numbers form Elections Canada website to produce the suggestions and the numbers you will find in this website.
Voting as a bloc, the progressive seat tally will increase from a total of 132 to 200 seats. With 75 percent more seats for the N.D.P, from 29 seats to 51 seats, and 42 percent more seats for the Liberals, from 103 to 147 seats.

 

The main goal is to maximize the number of seats that all 3 progressive parties can receive and in the mean time keep their vote share. The methodology I used is explained here. With this methodology and using the numbers of the last federal election we can change the election results in 68 electoral districts while keeping each party share of the total vote the same.

 

While working with the numbers I found some surprising numbers. Did you know that 2,268,502 of all Liberal ballots (that’s 50.64 percent of the Liberals ballots) did not help elect an MP. For the N.D.P. the numbers are more staggering, 1,989,543 (that’s 76.83 percent of the N.D.P. total ballots) were wasted. The Green party is no less, 100% of the total ballots was wasted (664,068). More statistics here.

The Progressive voting bloc (PVB) this website is trying to mobilize in a coordinated way, is the majority in this country, check the latest poll results and you will find out how the majority end up, with the current voting system, with a minority stake.

Under the Ridings page you will find all 308 electoral districts along with voting suggestions. Under the 68 Seats page you will find a list of all 68 seats that should’ve been won by the PVB last election cycle and of course this election.

If you think I was not fair to the party you support, I’m sorry, I tried to use a very simple criteria and stick to it. The only complete and accurate data I have, was the last federal election results and this is what I used to come up with the suggestions you see here.

In this election, realistically, we have to choose between Stephen Harper and Stéphane Dion. In 2000 as Elizabeth May reminded us, Ralph Nader said that there is no difference between George W. Bush and Al Gore. The rest, as they say, is history.

I do not think anyone is in need for four years of a Harper’s majority government to know how Canada will look like, switch you TV to CNN for half an hour and you will see for yourself.
Do not just make a statement, make a difference.

October 2nd 2008