this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2025
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Fairvote Canada

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What is This Group is About?

De Quoi Parle ce Groupe?

The unofficial non-partisan Lemmy movement to bring proportional representation to all levels of government in Canada.

🗳️Voters deserve more choice and accountability from all politicians.

Le mouvement non officiel et non partisan de Lemmy visant à introduire la représentation proportionnelle à tous les niveaux de gouvernement au Canada.

🗳️Les électeurs méritent davantage de choix et de responsabilité de la part de tous les politiciens.

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We're looking for more moderators, especially those who are of French and indigenous identities.

Nous recherchons davantage de modérateurs, notamment ceux qui sont d'identité française et autochtone.

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A Simple Guide to Electoral Systems (lemmy.ca)
submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
25 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Alt text: Infographic titled "A Simple Guide to Electoral Systems" with a light blue background. At the top, a highlighted box states: "In a healthy democracy, citizens are deserving of and entitled to representation in government. Only proportional representation can dependably get you there."

The content is organized in two main columns. The left column labeled "Winner-Take-All Systems 🚫" (in red) describes First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) used in Canada/USA where the candidate with most votes wins but many votes don't elect anyone, and Instant-Runoff Voting (IRV) which uses ranked ballots but still wastes votes.

The right column labeled "Proportional Representation ✓" (in green) describes Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) used in Germany/New Zealand where voters cast ballots for both local candidates and parties, and Single Transferable Vote (STV) used in Ireland which uses ranked ballots in multi-member districts. Both proportional systems ensure the percentage of votes equals percentage of seats.

A blue band across the middle highlights "Systems using Ranked Ballots: IRV and STV."

The bottom contains three gray boxes stating: "Which electoral system is best? If you care about democracy, proportional representation is the way to go," "Which political parties support proportional representation? Only Green🟢/NDP🟧/RPC🟨 consistently support proportional representation," and "Share this with a pro-democracy friend!"

The content is licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0.

List of parties that support proportional representation:

Also see: Simple things you can do right now, to grow the proportional representation movement—so we never have to vote for the lesser of the evils, have a two party system, "split the vote", or strategic vote.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Do they have a list of media material that can be printed on A4, like flyers?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)
  1. Almost certainly, they have tabling booths with many print-outs. Here is a link to their Media Kit.
  2. Also see: Simple things you can do right now, to grow the proportional representation movement—so we never have to vote for the lesser of the evils, have a two party system, "split the vote", or strategic vote.
  3. If you want higher quality images, message me directly!
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

fairvote.ca needs to put bluesky links on their website! It appears they're using the Mastodon bridge already which is nice to see.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Fair Vote Canada, is pretty much all volunteer run. So they are very resource constrained!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

I quickly drafted up this infographic, feel free to provide feedback!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Something that I think is frequently overlooked is approval voting! Why have a single transferable vote when a voter would be happy with more than one candidate?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks for your feedback!

There are many kinds of electoral systems, but in this space limited format, I only selected the ones most commonly discussed.

Unless you're referring to multiwinner approval voting, I also don't see the benefits of approval voting over STV, as approval voting is winner take all.

If you are referring to multiwinner approval voting, then STV would still be superior, as it forces voters to consider which candidates are more preferred.

And since the infographic is licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0, you have the ability to take it and alter under a compatible license.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I think we should include the ⚜️bloc and the 🐮animal protection party (aapc as well)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Thanks for your feedback!

Similar to a commenter before, there are many political parties, i just selected a few.

It would personally take too much ongoing effort to encompass all details, and it gets most points across.

And since the infographic is licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0, you have the ability to take it and alter under a compatible license.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

The red bar sinister and green checkmark smell of “telling you what to think”. Comes off like a cheap chinese product banner image on Amazon.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

The red bar sinister and green checkmark smell of “telling you what to think”.

Perhaps, but are you suggesting we should not fight for a healthy democracy?

(and yes, a healthy democracy requires that every vote counts, as it would in proportional representation electoral systems)

Comes off like a cheap chinese product banner image on Amazon.

Haha. Yup, it's ugly, but maybe someone else can do something better with it, it's licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Just curious, what part of my comment led you to reply with “are you suggesting we should not fight for a healthy democracy”?

Also, encouraging liberal voters to vote for a fringe party with less than 3% of the vote, like the Green Party, leads to the right-wing party winning.

“Vote Green Party” is a sure way to see national outcomes even further away from your ideals.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Why would we need to tell people what to think, if fighting for a healthy democracy was not already a presupposition?

I think it's more of a design preference... and overall doesn't interfere with respect to the overall messaging.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Right, why tell them what the “correct” conclusion is with the red/green marks then?

And, you asked for feedback; I gave it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

why tell them what the “correct” conclusion is with the red/green marks then?

Well the point of the infographic is to highlight what the correct conclusion is, without ambiguity.

In a world where people could take time to deeply evaluate each electoral system, yes I'd agree with you. But I don't think any infographic sets out to do that, and this one does not.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Also, encouraging liberal voters to vote for a fringe party with less than 3% of the vote, like the Green Party, leads to the right-wing party winning.

“Vote Green Party” is a sure way to see national outcomes even further away from your ideals.

Well voting for a political party that doesn't support proportional representation is guaranteed to doom the movement.

If other parties want to cater to the fair vote movement, how about they come up with more palatable policies to us, rather than have everyone race to the bottom?

And the Green party isn't the only party that supports proportional representation. The NDP do as well.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If other parties want to cater to the fair vote movement, how about they come up with more palatable policies to us, rather than have everyone race to the bottom?

This isn’t well thought out. Look at what’s happened in the US as a result of this non-practical approach.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Got any better ideas? The theory of change is a hotly discussed topic in this movement.

If I believe that a candidate is ~~anti democratic~~ impeding democracy (e.g liberal/conservative), then I vote for them to avoid "splitting the vote", then I just voted for an someone who impedes democracy.

And yes, I do see those that don't support proportional representation as ~~anti democratic~~ impeding democracy.

The frame of reference is that supporters of proportional representation are splitting the vote, when it should be seen as everyone else being anti democratic.

That's just my opinion.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Speaking from the US so my context may be different, but:

One of the things that bugs me is people don't seem to want to do anything except in the days leading up to the election. Then they want to vote for some moonshot candidate.

To me the strategy should be a lot of hard work throughout the year, and then harm reduction as needed (eg: vote against trump). The hard work may be phone calls, canvassing, protesting, coalition building, I don't know.

When people do nothing political except vote for a fringe party, it seems ineffective. Maybe even counter productive.

I mean, I'm lazy and being strangled by capitalism too, so I kind of get it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

When people do nothing political except vote for a fringe party

Again, voting for a "fringe" party that might advance proportional representation, is always better than any party that won't advance proportional representation.

Besides, Canada is not like the US. We do elect Green and NDP candidates, and they've formed government on occasion (e.g., the BC government as of now). It's hard to say they are fringe, when it's just not the reality.

And even if these are "fringe" parties, it's not a "fringe" idea to ensure that every vote counts, as it would under proportional representation.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago

That’s incorrect if the party you voted for has no chance of actually bringing about proportional representation, and you end up with a party wildly opposite to your ideals in office.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s a very entitled viewpoint; thinking “They need to please me” rather than “what’s realistically best for everyone overall?”.

A better idea may be to keep the leftmost VIABLE party in office and work with those representatives from the bottom up to implement incremental change.

Parties who don’t manage to get in office can make no change at all.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s a very entitled viewpoint; thinking “They need to please me”

Yeah, that's how representative democracy is supposed to work. Candidates are supposed to cater to their constituent's needs. You have it the other way around.

It's wildly entitled to think that a candidate, who hasn't done any work to earn my vote, should earn my vote. That's extremely delusional thinking.

what’s realistically best for everyone overall

What's best for everyone overall is a strong democracy. I'm not going to vote for a candidate that won't advance that priority, and neither should anybody else.

Parties who don’t manage to get in office can make no change at all.

And parties that don't promise any meaningful change also don't make any change at all.

I've been down this conversation before. I refuse to vote for a party that doesn't advance proportional representation. That's entirely in my right to do so. Do whatever mental gymnastics you want to believe that it is me the problem who is preventing the advancement of proportional representation and democracy.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

These talking points were widely and aggressively deployed before the US presidential election, leading to a Trump win.

If you don’t recognize that reality, you are encouraging a similar outcome.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)
  1. What happened to just providing feedback to the infographic? Not that I'm against other topics of discussion, but seems a bit like an ambush.
  2. Why haven't you responded to any of my points other than saying: that's how Trump wins, or that's how you split the vote? I'm seriously entertaining the points you've brought up, but you've barely even acknowledged any of mine. How is that a productive discussion? Ever heard the phrase: talking at someone rather than to someone?
  3. I'd be happy to support candidates provided they have good policies. You are trying to pressure the wrong kind of person, when you should be applying pressure to our political parties, and other voters (e.g., anti-proportional representation). In applying pressure to a PR-supporting voter, to vote non-PR, it's not a surprise when that trends towards non-PR policies.
  4. We actually do have a viable PR-supporting alternative: the NDP. They've formed government on several occasions, so this is not really comparable to the US.