Strategic Voting

 
I probably need to explain strategic voting to those people who don't have the "advantage" of living in a multiparty democracy. Strategic voting is where you deliberately vote for someone who is not your first choice in order to prevent another candidate from winning in your riding.

In the context of the current election, it means that a Liberal could vote for an NDP candidate if it was the NDP candidate who had the best chance of defeating the Conservative candidate in a particular riding. The idea being floated right now is that all Liberal, NDP, and Green Party supporters unite behind the candidate who has the best chance of defeating the Conservative candidate and preventing the Conservatives from getting a majority.

There are many good reasons for opposing strategic voting, not the least of which is that it's fundamentally dishonest.¹ Jennifer Smith of Runesmith's Canadian Content has always been opposed to strategic voting but in today's posting she announces that she's changed her mind [By Any Means Necessary].

My name is Jennifer, and I support strategic voting.

I know other people who are going to hold their nose and vote Liberal even though they are dissatisfied with the Liberal Party and with their leader Stéphane Dion. They realize that by switching their vote to the NDP, Bloc, or Green Party, they will make it more likely that Stephen Harper could remain Primie Minister with a majority government.

I'm not there yet. I want to make absolutely sure that Stéphane Dion gets the message that he should resign on October 15th. I'm not sure he will get the message unless I vote for someone else. On the other hand, a majority Conservative government could be a disaster for Canada.

If a lot of Canadians vote strategically to elect Liberals and prevent a Conservative majority do you think Stéphane Dion will understand what happened and do the right thing?

---

1. Everyone with an I.Q. over 50 realizes that we need to change our voting system from first-past-the-post to some sort of proportional system. But that's not going to happen for many years. First, a lot of stupid people have to die. Meanwhile, we're stuck with the debate over strategic voting.