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electoral system
Canadians agree that the conditions Indigenous people face economically and socially are unacceptable and long overdue for change. But to start that process would require Indigenous people to be at the table to represent their concerns themselves. Here, Canada's current voting system is a key barrier.
They've all got their own reasons.
Ranked ballots give more power to voters by eliminating strategic voting, encouraging positive campaigns and ensuring that unpopular incumbents can't win their seats due to vote-splitting -- but critics of reform are speaking out. They reveal a comedic double-standard. Some of the same people who are trying to derail democratic reform in Ontario themselves use the exact same system that they claim is too complex or unfair.
There would be one big political winner. And it wouldn't be Conservatives.
At first this plan may sound like a gimmick. It seems too simple. But that is what makes it more likely to work if a vast majority of voters understand it and support it. The big parties will certainly try to discredit it so they can preserve their grip on power, but the Social Media power can overcome that.
It almost seems fraudulent to elect someone to office who doesn't have the support of the majority -- but my friend, it happens all the time. So what do we do about this undemocratic travesty? Enter the Ranked Ballot Initiative (RaBit), a citizen-led electoral reform campaign designed to introduce, you guessed it, ranked ballots (instant runoff voting) for municipal elections by 2018.
