The well-intentioned, but not good ship ABC is listing hopelessly in the stormy election waters of Kootenay-Columbia. Its difficult journey has been thwarted by strong gusts of opposition and rotting boards in the keel.
In a few days this election will be behind us and that will be a big relief. I can’t imagine how hard it has been on the candidates, but as a humble campaign worker, I am exhausted.
If I learned anything, it’s how much I dislike, no loathe, strategic voting. Because time and time again, it fails to deliver, anything.
Our antiquated, broken voting system is the problem. First-past-the-post works when there are two parties: one wins, one loses. Easy peasy. More than two parties and we get skewed results. And that’s when strategic elbows in.
Strategic sounds reasonable enough at first — why, I even signed up for it. But as they say, the devil is in the details. Which party to choose, based on what stats, from which year?
Elections are about moving minds and changing numbers, about trust and values, not about taking a calculator to the booth.
Strategic voting unravels because we don’t like other people telling us what to do. As tensions and words flare ‘tween mates, we retreat, bruised and battered but with even more resolve to vote our values.
Vote our values, isn’t that what it’s about? Look at the choices, pick the one that rings to you and vote for it. If we do anything else, we’re lying, not just to ourselves but to the country. How does a country of liars expect to get to the truth? Hey strategic: walk the plank!
Ann Remnant
Nelson