First Past the Post - They make us use it, to elect them. MP's will use a ranked ballot to choose the next speaker today

By Pepper Parr

October 3^rd, 2023

BURLINGTON, ON

Dave Meslin has made ranked balloting his life’s work.

He created Unlock Democracy in November 2007 and has been tell the story about why this is a better more democratic approach to choosing leaders.

His most recent explanation is set out below.  He makes a very good point.

A new Speaker will be selected by the 338 MP’s.

Later today, our 338 Members of Parliament are electing a new Speaker of the House. There are six candidates so it’s quite likely that the leading candidate will secure less than 50% of the vote. If they used First-Past-the-Post to choose the Speaker, that leading candidate would be declared the winner – even if she or he only had 20% of the vote!

Of course, politicians never use First-Past-the-Post. They make us use it, to elect them. But when they choose their own leaders, riding candidates, committee chairs, interim Councillors or House Speaker, they always use a runoff system – just like the one we advocate for and just like the one London Ontario used to elect their mayor and council in 2018.

For any single-winner election, runoff elections are the way to go.  If no candidate wins a majority on the first count, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and everyone gets to vote again. This repeats until someone gets more than 50% of the vote. (It can also be done instantly, with a ranked ballot). There are no ‘spoilers’, no strategic voting, more civility and no fake winners. It’s the gold standard and that’s why the Canadian House of Commons will be using it this afternoon. I’ll write you again later today and let you know how it went!