Alberta's STV overlooked but ready to return

RE: CBC article "What does the Caq’s promise of electoral reform hold for Anglophones?” by Kate McKenna, Oct. 4, 2018

The article says “Other provincial governments, including that of Ontario and Prince Edward Island, have flirted with the idea of voting reform but never followed through.”

but of course that is not true.

Alberta and Manitoba used Single Transferable Voting, described as the British form of pro-rep, to elect MLAs in their largest cities from the 1920s to the 1950s. During this period it also used Alternative Voting in the rural districts.

STV creates results that are both proportional and majoritarian in that a majority of seats in a district are filled by a majority of voters (thus representation based on the will of a majority). It elects multiple members in a district fairly, not in exact proportion to the amount of votes a party receives, but with votes going to individual candidates and each winner elected by same number of votes (as much as possible), with party getting its due share of the seats.

The system worked this way:

Candidates run in multiple-member districts, electing usually 3 to 7 members in a district.

Each voter casts a single vote but marks back-up preferences on the ballot.

The ballots in a district are counted and sorted. Some votes elect one or more candidates on account of specific support. The surplus votes not needed by the winners are transferred according to the back-up preferences on the ballots. Some go to candidates of the same party to further create proportionality of representation. Some go to other candidates. These votes plus others transferred from eliminated low-ranking candidates are used to elect the best of the rest through formed consensus among the remaining voters.

A comment on-line to the CBC article also misses the mark: "The kind of proportional voting systems talked about for Canada are designed to foster four to seven parties that actually elect candidates to seats, enough to give voters a few more viable choices, and to create a marketplace of ideas so that the parties can work together to get things done, but not enough to bog down the working of the legislature."

Actually if a party holds the majority of seats, then it holds power and has the decision-making ability. However STV ensures that the substantial minorities will be represented, thus providing input to the legislative process.

As Alberta's historical leader of the STV movement, John D. Hunt, often said

"In a democratic government the right of decision-making belongs to the majority

but the right of representation belongs to all."

Neither rights have any assurance under the existing First past the post (FPTP) system.

Often a minority of the votes takes a majority of the seats. In these cases, a majority of the voters do not get a majority of the seats.

The right of all to representation, that is the right of minorities - large parties take care of themselves under any system in most cases - is not respected under FPTP. The Alberta Party got 10 percent of the vote in the 2019 election and not one seat - they were due 8 or 9. The NDP after a slide of a fifth of its votes lost more than half of its seats while the most popular party with 55 percent of the vote got 72 percent of the seats.

This unfairness is why the electoral system should be changed by a return to STV in the urban centres with Alternative Voting used in sparely-settled areas.

Alberta's old STV is just waiting to return again -

Already we use city -wide district to elect city mayors, just use that same district to elect the same number of MLAs as currently elected in each city. Where a city has more than say 13 MLAs, two half-city districts would be useful to reduce the size of the ballot needed.

Already each voter has one vote - simply change the format of the ballot to allow back-up preferences (rankings).

That re-districting and the introduction of ranked ballots is all that is needed to have STV.

under STV voters would still cast one vote,

they would still vote for individual candidates,

there would still be local representation.

but in addition there would be balance in each city - no one party could take all the seats in a city, as can happen now under FPTP.

Thanks for reading.

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What is STV?

From a 1902 reform magazine: "Thinking it well to have in every number something by way of a brief explanation of proportional voting, I repeat in this number the following. Proportional representation means the use of a reasonable and scientific system of voting instead of the present stupid, unfair and inefficient procedure. Methods: There are several systems by which the principle of proportional representation may be given effect to. Large electoral districts, each electing several members, are a necessary feature. The "quota" plan is usually employed. It means that a quota of the votes elects one representative. To arrive at the quota, the number of valid votes cast is divided by the number of seats to be filled. For instance in a seven-member district any one-seventh of the voters could elect one representative and the other six-sevenths could not interfere with their choice. The three principal systems of proportional representation are the Free List as used in Switzerland and Belgium [party-list pro-rep], the Hare system as used in Tasmania [STV], and the Gove System as advocated in Massachusetts. The Preferential Vote [Alternative Voting/Instant Run-off Voting] -- This is used in the election of single officers such as a mayor. It is not strictly a form of pro-rep but is akin thereto, and uses part of the same voting methods. The object of preferential voting is to encourage the free nomination of candidates and to obtain always a clear majority at one balloting, no matter how many candidates are nominated." (From the Proportional Representation Review Dec. 1902, p. 77) (Hathi Trust online resource, page 81/180) Thanks for reading. Check out my blog "list of Montopedia blogs concerning electoral reform" to find other blogs on this important subject. ----------------------------------- This year: *Alberta is celebrating 150 years in Confederation 1870-2020 *100th Anniversary of STV first being used to elect legislators in Canada Winnipeg MLAs first elected through STV in 1920 ==============================================================