GO VOTE! – 2007 Election

Another election and another “go vote” plea from me. But wait this time there is a difference. You get to vote twice this time.

So like always I advise you to get out to vote on October 10th in the provincial general election. I won’t rehash all the reasons why you need to do this. (57% voter turnout last time, sooo sad!)

On October 10th you will also be given a second ballot. For the first time in 200+ years Ontario will get to pick how it elects members of the legislator. You will be given two choices: the existing first-past-the-post (FPTP) system and a new system, that was chosen by the Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Reform, called Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP). I think the members of the assembly did a great job. They spent 8 months studying all the different systems that are in use around the world. MMP is their choice for the future of voting in Ontario. You can see more about their work at: TVO

I encourage you to consider the new system. To me the best test of any electoral system is how closely the results reflect the will of the voters. By this test the MMP system is far better then our current system, FPTP.

FPTP is a great system for a country or province with only has two parties, this was the case when the system was first picked. I don’t feel that the diversity of ideas in Ontario can be well represented by just two political parties, and thus the FPTP system does a disservice to this diversity.

Remember that no electoral system is perfect. I encourage you to use the links below to find out more about your two choices. Figure what priorities are important to you and pick the system that best matches. (some are clearly for or against one system, it is worth reading both sides (minus the scare tactics))

I hope they help!