Fair Vote Yukon would like to thank John Thompson for his editorial last week and to concur with him on many of his conclusions.
Mr. Thompson states that a specific alternate voting system which he discussed with a member of our group is “nearly impossible to explain on the doorsteps of voters.”
Fair Vote Yukon’s principal goal is, in fact, not to promote any one alternate, fair voting system. So, to be clear, while Dave Brekke was invited to explain his system to our members at our recent public event FV 102, we do not prefer or promote it. Previously, in FV 101 we learned about the system put forward recently in B.C. and look forward to learning about Denmark’s voting system in the upcoming FV 103.
If Yukoners are interested in learning more about fair voting, we are planning some other interesting events at our market stall this summer.
We will be playing marbles and helping people to understand how votes are wasted in the First Past the Post voting system.
Additionally, we plan to have a mock election, complete with costumed candidates. In our election the Kitchen Party, the Garage Party and the Garden Party will duke it out to see who “Rules the House.”
When you visit our booth, you will vote using alternate ballots. We will do the “complicated math” to find out who wins in the FTPT system as well as in other, fair voting systems. We plan to let Yukoners know how it all works out.
Fair warning though, the results may involve pie charts!
What we hope Yukoners take away when they visit us at the market this summer, or at FV 103, is that fair voting is not “boring” and that it involves relatively small shifts for the voters. The returning officers, we admit, will be up late into the evening counting and balancing, but the voting experience is relatively unchanged.
Thanks again to Mr. Thompson for his encouragement and for so solidly endorsing the position of Fair Vote Yukon. We appreciate the help in getting our message out.
Dave Whiteside
Tanyss Knowles
co-presidents, Fair Vote Yukon