Will We See More Voters Actually Vote by October 25 ?
2006 Toronto City Election: Voter Turnout in Ward 18 Davenport = 35%
Number of elgible voters in Ward 18 Davenport = 26, 737 out of 45,620 population
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2006 Election Results: SIX candidates running...
Adam Giambrone = 6,025 votes = elected by about 22% of elegible voters
- or another way to say it is that 78% of voters didn't want him or didn't care
Simon Wookey = 2,089 (running this year in ward 27, TO Centre-Rosedale)
Jim McMillen = 292
Lloyd Ferguson = 262
Nha Le = 252 (running again in ward 18)
Jim Rawling = 87
... 9,006 people voted = only a 35% turnout
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2003 Election Results: SIX candidates running...
Adam Giambrone = 5,797 votes
Ana Bailao = 4,537 (running again in ward 18 in 2010)
Hotencio Fotopoulus = 387
Nha Le = 234
Cynamin Maxwell = 155
Anna Salaverry-Chuquihuara = 141
.... 11,250 people voted
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It seems that since only HALF of our ward population can actually vote, and that LESS THAN HALF of those who can vote do vote, and that anyone can get elected with just about TWENTY PER CENT of the people voting for that person...... isn't there something wrong with our democracy?
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I would advocate mandatory voting, but only if it allows a choice of 'NONE OF THE ABOVE' so we truly know the will of the people.
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The Better Ballots group http://www.betterballots.to/ has been looking at ways to improve our democracy so that the public will is actually reflected in the people we elect. This group not only questions why a diverse city like Toronto is not reflected in those who sit in power at City Council, but also why we don't find better ways to elect our representatives.
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RANKED BALLOTS ( or preferential voting) is something I believe in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferential_voting It essentially means picking your favourites by numbering all candidates 1,2,3,4, and so on. This avoids the 'first past the post' system of whoever gets the most votes in a race wins. Why is that unfair, you ask? Well if you have say - 12 - candidates running, some with similar platforms, 11 of them can split the vote letting the victors slip through, even though if asked voters will not want that dissimilar platform elected.
Until this is a reality, anyone who can get just 5,350 votes can win this election
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Until that happens, Voters must ALWAYS VOTE SERIOUSLY !
Those that do not even vote can still be hurt by the person they let get elected by not voting
Those that do vote, must carefully compare the promises and platforms of all the candidates and choose the one that best represents what they want. Who is closest, in total, of the one you want to represent you?
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PLEASE! VOTE CAREFULLY AND SERIOUSLY. EVERY VOTE COUNTS.
WE NEED BETTER VOTER TURNOUT ON OCTOBER 25 .... because ...
DAVENPORT DESERVES BETTER
Not our ward, but next door in Ward 19 they had some fireworks that prove debates aren't always boring: http://tinyurl.com/28yx2qa Example: Incumbent Chris Bolton got caught sending his campaign literature home with school children - bombshell dropped by Michael Sims. And just why is Mike Layton's signs including a vote for Chris Bolton too?
