| It's time to change our voting system |
| "I
know 80% of you didn't vote for me, but I'm thrilled to be your City Councillor
for the next four years" This isn't something any voter would want to hear, but it's exactly what happens all across our city. And there's no good reason for it. |
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In 2006, fourteen Councillors got a four year contract to represent a ward that didn't vote for them. This is because of an archaic voting system that is designed for races with only two candidates. At the most recent Ontario Liberal leadership convention Gerard Kennedy won the first ballot. A gentleman named Dalton McGuinty came in a distant fourth place. The second ballot produced the same results. Kennedy went on to win the 3rd and 4th ballots as well. But without 50% of the votes he was forced to go head-to-head against McGuinty on a 5th ballot. The voters chose McGuinty over Kennedy. Well-designed voting
systems don't allow someone to win when most of the voters don't
want them as their as first choice. That's why every provincial and
federal nomination meeting and every leadership convention uses a system
of multiple ballots to ensure that the favorite candidate wins, not
the luckiest. Using Toronto's electoral system, Kennedy would have
won the race, even though most of the delegates didn't want him
to. There is no doubt that some
of the candidates who won on November 13th, would not have won on
a second or third ballot. Here is a full list of candidates who won
with less than 50% of the vote: |