Strategic Voting

Strategic Voting – Does It Work?

Presenter: John Pope

August, 2015

Strategic (sometimes called tactical) voting occurs, in elections with more than two candidates, when a voter supports a candidate other than his or her sincere preference in order to prevent an undesirable outcome.

The arguments for strategic voting

“Don’t just make a statement make a difference”:  [strategicvoting.ca/]

Leadnow runs campaigns on major issues.  For 2015, they are focused on removing Stephen Harper:  [leadnow.ca/]  “How Leadnow Will Push Strategic Voting to Defeat Tories” [thetyee.ca/News/2015/08/11/Leadnow-Strategic-Voting/]

Vote swapping: “Vote swap when your preferred party has no chance to win in your riding.”  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vote_pairing

Did this organization help the NDP get elected in Alberta?  [http://changealberta.ca/]

The arguments against strategic voting
 

If people voted strategically in the 2011 election, it would have meant fewer votes for the NDP:  “The case against strategic voting in the next federal election”  [thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/09/23/the_case_against_strategic_voting_in_the_next_federal_election.html]

Also: “…the argument that one has to vote “strategically” for the Liberals to avoid vote-splitting does not hold water…”.  “It is time to ditch talk of ‘strategic voting'”
[rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/karl-nerenberg/2015/05/it-time-to-ditch-talk-strategic-voting]