The politics of dinner

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: MONKEYBUSINESSIMAGES / ISTOCK / THINKSTOCK
Just like a bowl of white rice is not for everyone. But even if you voted against it for a meal, if the majority of people vote for white rice, you can be stuck with it, this is the definition of vote splitting.

Imagine going out for sushi with a dozen friends. A bunch of people want plain white rice, it’s nothing special but they know what they’re getting and they’d prefer not to try something new. The rest of the group is trying to decide between either getting the tempura or the rolls. After a show of hands, four people choose tempura, four choose rolls and the remaining five all cast their vote for white rice.

Despite the fact that eight people didn’t actually want white rice, all 13 end up having to spend the next four years under a white rice government. That’s vote splitting in a nutshell.

The issue is one of the eternal shortcomings of our electoral system. It’s hard to feel like your vote counted if you didn’t vote for the person who actually took office.

The distinction between democracy and the concept of majority wins is lost on many because of our first-past-the-post system. Other electoral systems allow voters to rank the candidates so that if your first choice is eliminated, it’s still possible to support an alternate party.

Several organizations have been created in the past few months with the express purpose of removing Prime Minister Stephen Harper from office by preventing a split in the vote.

From anyonebutharper.net to votetogether.ca, they offer advice on how to strategically pick a candidate who will have the best shot at unseating a Conservative Member of Parliament.

In the riding of London North Centre, currently held by Conservative Member of Parliament Susan Truppe, the candidate with the best chance of defeating her is Liberal candidate Peter Fragiskatos.

They’re close enough in the polls that a small shift either way would affect the outcome of the election. The website strategicvoting.ca is dedicated to removing the Conservative Party from office by offering a statistical analysis on who, other than the Conservative candidate, has the best chance of winning in swing ridings. At risk of explaining the obvious, swing ridings are ones in which the outcome of the election depends on a relatively small number of people voting differently.

Swing ridings are typically the subject of more campaigning than ridings in which the incumbent had a wide margin over their closest opponent in the previous election.

In the 2011 federal election, the margin in London North Centre was a relatively small three per cent or roughly 1,600 votes. In the London-Fanshawe riding, which Fanshawe College is located in, the New Democratic Party (NDP) won by a much larger margin of approximately 7,500 votes. As a result, parties will distribute their resources according to their odds of victory. The Liberal Party will put far more effort into winning the London North Centre riding than the London-Fanshawe riding because they were a close second in 2011, compared with a distant third.

Regardless of whom you choose to vote for, being informed about all of the candidates in your riding is just as important as knowing which candidate you’d like to see in office. Four years of white rice is a long time.

Correction: The Sept. 21 article “Meet the Contestants” incorrectly stated that Fanshawe College is located in the riding of London North Centre. The campus actually resides in the riding of London-Fanshawe.

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.