New voting system.

[Bob Toe]

I sure hope someone can explain this new voting system we are supposed to vote on in October? Another thing I don't understand is people complaining that a person can get only 35% of the vote but win the election. The way I understand it is if a person gets the majority of the votes cast he is the winner. If because of a number of candidates running and the vote is so split up that the winner can win with 35% of the votes, what's the big deal. He got the majority of the votes cast. And this business of the "popular vote" has me completely baffled.

[Hans]

I have no idea. I can't vote so I just have to sit back and watch the show. I do however have to pay taxes like everyone else. Go figure.

[shadowjak]

From what I know.(talked to a couple of the candidates).If it goes through you will now be able to vote for local member and a political party separately.
So if you like the ndp candidate for the sault but like the liberal party you can vote that way.

[GRUMPY]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: shadowjak</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
So if you like the ndp candidate for the sault but like the liberal candidate provincialy you can vote that way. </div></div>

????

[shadowjak]

One of the electoral systems you are being asked to consider is called First-Past-the-Post. It is the system used in Ontario now.

Ontario is divided into 107 electoral districts. In each district each voter gets one vote to choose which candidate they feel should win a seat in the provincial legislature. One vote. One ballot.

In an election using the First-Past-the-Post system, the candidate with the most votes wins and will be the representative for the electoral district in the provincial legislature.

After the election, the political party that wins the most electoral districts is normally asked to form a government.

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One of the electoral systems you will be asked to consider during Ontario’s referendum is called Mixed Member Proportional. It is called a mixed system, because it combines two voting systems: a First-Past-the-Post system and a Proportional Representation system.

If this system is accepted, Ontarians will have two votes in future elections: one for a ‘Local Member’ and one for a political party.

The provincial legislature would have 129 seats: Local Members’ would fill 90 seats while ‘List Members’ would fill 39 seats.

The political party with the largest number of seats in the legislature, including ‘Local Members’ and ‘List Members’, is asked to form a government.

In each electoral district, one vote would be used to elect a 'Local Member' using a First-Past-the-Post system. The candidate with the most votes in an electoral district wins.

The other vote would be for a political party. Votes for parties will be used to determine the number of 'List Members' each party gets. This is the proportional representation part.

If a political party is entitled to more seats than it won locally, 'List Members' are elected to make up the difference. 'List Members' can only be elected from a political party that received more than 3% of these votes.

In the end, a political party's overall share of seats will roughly equal its share of the total votes for parties in the province.

Anyone who meets the rules for eligibility can become a candidate for election as a ‘Local Member’. Some candidates are called “independents” while others represent a political party.

‘List Members’ are candidates from any registered political party. Before an election each political party prepares an ordered list of candidates they would like considered as ‘List Members’.

These lists, and the way they are created, would be made public well in advance of any election in a Mixed Member Proportional system.

[Bob Toe]

Thanks shadowjak, I think. I am definitely going to have to spend some time on this proposed new system in order to vote properly. Your explanation definitely removed some of the clouds.