Are Canada’s conservatives making the same mistakes in their June, 2020 leadership contest as gave them Andrew Scheer last time? Some people never seem to learn. We are hearing that they are trying to defeat democracy again.
In what should be a one-member-one-vote contest, we understand that they have declared all electoral districts to be equal. It means that, as in the last contest, each riding is allotted the same weight. It means that a city riding with over a thousand members has the same weight as a rural riding with fewer than a hundred members.
Add to this imbalance a preferential ballot and you have doubled down on what caused the problems in choosing ‘Chuckles’ Scheer. A preferential ballot is a poor substitute for sequential balloting. You are asking people to number all the candidates. If there are ten candidates, you have to number them one to ten. Your last three or four choices might be based on very shallow opinions.
And, don’t forget, in the last contest there were 13 candidates and the voting went down to the 13th ballot. Andrew Scheer won by being the 13th choice of some of the voters. How is that for a consolation prize?
But please do not consider preferential voting as democratic. It is the lazy thinkers’ solution. You would be amazed how simple and secure it could be to have national voting over the Internet. You can vote over a smart phone or at a school or library.
And you will never beat the one-person-one-vote approach. It is definitely democratic. The voting results are easy to count and easy to verify. If you believe in democracy, you will demand it.
-30-
Copyright 2020 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]