This is a follow-up on the disastrous mayoralty byelection in Toronto the other day. And it was a disaster. It was never the 102 candidates to be mayor, though that part was amusing. It just goes to prove that in a true democracy, anyone can run for elected office. It would be nice if the people had some qualifications but we seem to ignore even that constraint. Early in the game, I gave Olivia Chow the nod as the one to beat. I did not support her.
But I think that any time you have more than a half dozen people running for an elected position under first-past-the-post voting, you should be prepared for a run-off election. For Chow to be mayor of Toronto with 37 per cent of the vote by about 40 percent of eligible voters is a disgrace. In effect, the voters were letting less than 20 per cent of the eligible voters make this critical decision for them.
In over 60 years of being eligible to vote, I have never failed to go to vote. I have made a habit of always voting in the advance polls. I have most often voted for the most progressive candidates. In municipal elections, I have voted for lots of losers because I wanted to encourage them to try again. I really cannot understand how anyone can alibi their failure to vote. I do not want to insult those who could have voted and did not bother but they should visit a country where the people who live there do not have the privilege of voting—and see the difference.
And I am sick and tired of those who dismiss the idea of a run-off election because of the supposed cost. We need to grow up and finally allow Internet voting. That creates polling places at most libraries, businesses, homes and people with smart phones. If the multiple computers used to house the voters’ information gets hacked, you will know and you will plug the hole in the dike. By using random systems, you force the hacker to hack one name at a time. They will soon learn that it is not worth the trouble nor the possible persecution.
Besides, you only need a run-off vote when no candidate gets more than 50 per cent of the votes in the original election. Our democracy is worth the extra cost.
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P.S. If Toronto had a run-off vote after last Monday, I would have bet on Ana Bailão to be the winner.
Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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