During an election a few years ago I suggested that my mother vote for the NDP. “Why would I vote for them?” she asked me. “They’re not going to win!”
Wanting to vote for the winning candidate instead of the one you believe in, is just one of the ways the results of our flawed electoral system can be skewed. And even though I’ve always “voted with my heart,” this is the first election I’ve seriously considered strategic voting.
I wanted to see if strategic voting could be the tipping factor for me of one party over another since I still haven’t decided who I’m voting for. On voteforenvironment.ca I punched in my postal code and was told I could “vote with my heart” since in my riding, the race is between the Liberal’s and the Bloc — both environmentally-friendly (read: not Conservative). In other words, my vote doesn’t really count anyway, so I can vote for whomever I want.
It’s dangerous territory when people start to feel their votes don’t count — and a signal of the need for change.