Blessed by the Potato

Oh, I’m scheduled to have my cytoscope procedure < shudder > on the 23rd, which is election day, so I’m going to go to the advanced polls to cast my ballot.

Unfortunately, that means I can’t wait for the last-minute estimates to come up so I can decide which way to vote. While I don’t savor strategic voting, it is unfortunately necessary sometimes in our first-past-the-post system.

Here’s my thinking: I’m a fairly left-of-centre guy, so for me the choice is really between the NDP and the Greens. I don’t want the conservatives to get any sort of power, and I’d like the liberals to get a minority or less again. So basically, if the NDP have a decent shot at getting a seat in my riding (say 30% or more support), I’ll probably vote for them. If not, I’ll vote Green and give them the $1.75 for the next election.

The only concern for myself really is getting reasonably accurate polling numbers to determine that over a week before the election.

For others, I’m worried that fears over conservative insanity will lead to another liberal dynasty (Wayfare, for example, is considering voting for them just because she thinks they’re the only party that has a chance against the conservatives, despite thinking that they’re rotten to the core and just need to go). It’s unforunately a fallacy of perception: if many people believe they’re the only ones with a shot, then they’re the only ones who’ll get enough votes. Any party can keep the nutjo–conservatives out of power, as long as enough people believe they can and actually vote for them.

Sadly, I can’t reach quite enough people through my webpage to really get that message out, but I encourage you all to vote your conscience (even if it is for the liberals or conservatives). At the very least, the wide vote-split might encourge the parties to actually go through with some form of election reform so that we’re not faced with this again next year.