At: ashok.org.uk/2010/vote-toronto
Tomorrow night, I expect the fine city I'm now calling home will have a mayor who doesn't just fail to win the popular vote, but for whom there is a preferred candidate for most voters.
Losing the popular vote is pretty much par for the course with FPP, but this election looks especially clear we can do better.
I think we should all vote for something; and a preferential voting system would naturally discourage the mudslinging that has characterised this campaign.
I'm still just a visitor here, but if I could vote, I'd vote for Pantalone. He shows the aspirational and progressive values I expect to be rewarded in such the vibrant and diverse city that is modern Toronto.
I'd prefer Smitherman to Ford, by a long chalk, but the last few weeks have shown that pretty much the only progressive thing going for Mr Smitherman is that he's not Rob Ford. It's people doing just as I would who are going to hand this to Ford, I expect.
Just because we nerds can prove that there's no perfect ranked voting system, doesn't mean that we shouldn't ask for people's preferences. Some systems are worse than others, and FPP is – to my eye – practically the worst of the bunch.
Being unable to reassign your vote all the way down the line seems to me to be a basic requirement for a fair system; London's mayoral system is better than Toronto's, but it doesn't manage that, and last time there were substantially more discarded votes than the margin of victory.
I'll be watching tomorrow's results with much interest, but little hope.
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