How To Avoid A Wasted Vote In A First Past The Post Voting System

You are Crazy Not To Vote Tactically

I want to spell this out. With the ‘first past the post’ voting system, if you don’t vote for the winning candidate, you may as well have not voted at all.

Think about it. A vote for losing candidate results in no representation whatsoever. Nothing. Nada. Nada di Nada. Zilch.

If your preferred candidate does not win, you may as well have stayed at home.

I will just say that again as I only really realised this in the past few days.

If you don’t vote for the winning candidate, you may as well not have voted at all!

How democratic is that?

Put another way, UK democracy is a post code lottery: your vote only counts in certain post code areas.

In a PR system your vote would count for something but not in the UK election 2010.

That’s why we need real change. (I think I might copyright that phrase.. Mmm oops too late)

Making Your Vote Count

So the only rational approach is to either:

1. vote for the party that is most likely to win in your constituency but only if you really want them to win; or
2. vote for the party that has a reasonable chance of winning in your constituency but if you really really want them to win; or
3. vote for the least offensive party that has a reasonable chance of beating the party that you most don’t want to win in your constituency

Making The Best Choice

Here in Central Devon, it is a two horse race between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

Applying the rules above, I want my vote to have some chance of counting, i.e. not being a wasted vote, so I must choose between these two parties.

The Conservatives lack competence on the economy, and may take the UK into a double dip recession, and hence are too big a risk to consider, so I will vote for the Liberal Democrats. Also Nick Clegg seemed the most honest of the three main parties’ leaders, and with Vince Cable as a competent Chancellor I am comfortable with my decision.

The other advantage of voting Liberal Democrat is that if they have significant leverage they may be able to change the constitution so we will have a PR system in the next election.

Then everyone will be able to vote for the party that best represents their views. And have that vote count. That would be no bad thing.

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