p2pnet - rss feed: Online vote-swapping is legal
p2pnet news view Politics | P2P:- Online vote-swapping is OK, says Elections Canada.
What’s it all about?
A group of people want to make sure if George W. Harper’s Conservatives somehow manage to win the upcoming Canadian federal election, they don’t end up with enough clout to actually run the country without reference to anyone but their corporate supporters.
So they started a Facebook Anti Harper Vote Swap / Troc de votes anti-Harper.
The concept is simple, says the site, going on »»»
… in a completely legal fashion, it allows voters in different ridings to swap votes to best ensure the Conservatives don’t win. Let’s say your preferred candidate has no chance to win your riding. You can swap that vote out with someone else in the group who will vote for your party in a riding where it has chances to win, while you’ll vote for the party that has the best chance to stop the Conservatives in your own riding.
Click here for some visual examples of how this works:
http://img110.imageshack.us/my.php?image=example1ie0.gif
http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=example2.320.gif&album=0&fullsize=1
http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=example3.de5.gif&album=0&fullsize=1
And the instructions:
http://server6.theimagehosting.com/image.php?img=swap_instructions.gif&album=0&fullsize=1
Here’s another example:
Let’s pretend I’m an NDP supporter in the riding of Winnipeg South. Seeing as the Tories only managed to beat the Liberals by less than 150 votes in the 2006 election, the Liberals almost surely have the best chance of winning. I send Mat (the admin) the following message:
A. My riding is Winnipeg South
B. I support the NDP
C. I’m willing to vote Liberal to keep Harper outWe will then match you up with another member of the group (in this case, a Liberal in a strong NDP riding who is willing to swap). We will send you both a message and you decide if you’d like to swap votes.
The group runs on an honour system. If you promise to vote for a particular party, please do so.
Our three primary goals:
1) Allow third parties to flourish and maintain a multi-party system
2) Help stop a Harper Majority! We would all lose if he succeeds.
3) Raise awareness about the need for electoral reform - people should not have to go to such lengths to ensure that their vote is not ‘wasted.’
Great idea.
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September 18th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
man
now thats a good idea.
September 18th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
There’s more than one way to skin a cat. I’ve already signed up.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Sounds good if the other end gets up off the computer chair and vote. I’m in Ottawa South, and the Liberal WILL get in, but I’m still voting Green. Why, ’cause.
September 18th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Fiind all voting statistics in your riding here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_federal_electoral_districts#Ontario_.E2.80.94_106_seats
September 18th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
why not just vote for who can take out the neo cons…..
September 18th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Where does it say that Elections Canada says vote swapping is okey?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/09/12/facebook-vote-swap.html
According to that story it may or may not be. I would think it would be close to bribery. “You vote for this guy and Ill vote for that guy”
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/09/17/vote-swapping.html?ref=rss
An updated story saying that voters should be careful cause they could be duped into voting for someone.
I think the idea of vote swapping should be illigal. You should vote for the person in your riding that you think would do the best for your area. Or maybe the leader would do good for the country as a whole.
September 19th, 2008 at 10:05 am
“I think the idea of vote swapping should be illigal.”
- What’s so wrong about it?
Your vote still goes to the party you choose (provided the participants carry it through - and really, why wouldn’t they?).
The candidate you would have voted for doesn’t get in either way, so no loss there,
and you might be able to influence who gets to run your country.
Sure there might be a small chance of abuse, but overall a great plan till the electoral process is reformed.
Shows how PO’d alot of us are at the way things are going now.
“voters should be careful cause they could be duped…” - isn’t that what the party leaders try to do?
“Where does it say that Elections Canada says vote swapping is okey?”
Even the link you provided states “James Hale, a spokesman for the federal agency, said the act of encouraging someone to vote in a particular way is allowed under the Elections Act.” and “It’s also acceptable for people to invite voters to participate in an organized strategic voting plan, whether on the internet or through other means”
so there.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Seems like it would be easy to disrupt. I really like party A which is not conservative. So what do I do, I get on the site, create dozens of fake personas, say I’m somewhere party A is not likely to win, and “swap votes” with tons of people, getting them to support my party. Of course they will believe that each of my personas are voting for their favorite party, but I’m not, as I’m just one person.
Sorry, my vote is not for sale or trade. Of course, it’s moot, as I don’t live in Canada.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
“Sorry, my vote is not for sale or trade.”
This is only a trade - no mention of a “sale”.
Besides, even if that multiple persona thing happens, (and it depends on whether facebook has measures to limit personas) the whole idea of that Group is ‘get in anybody but the Cons,’ and that’s still what would happen.
Makes an excellent case for reforming our voting system eh.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:32 am
When I was first reading it the article in the first link didnt say it was legal. Then I found the second link stating that as of now it doesnt appear illlegal.
People vote for who is in their riding. They shouldnt be aloud to trade their vote to someone else in the country.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:15 am
Jay says, “People vote for who is in their riding. They shouldnt be aloud to trade their vote to someone else in the country.”
Why not Jay?
Why do you say Canadians should not be legally allowed to use their vote in the manner they see as being most benefitial for their country?
September 26th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
There are almost 9,300 members in that group today.