What I will do on election day.

 Happy Election Day.

I sometimes wonder how many people read my blog posts or have an interest in my (somewhat unorthodox) stance on elections. I have made a decision to not vote. I am sometimes surprised at how much that pisses some people off.  I am sometimes judged for my choices, or even dismissed. I have been called a crackpot, a radical, and even (gasp!) boring. Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut, but that is not my way.

I don't pretend it is simple, normal, or easy to quit voting when you are politically engaged. If you care to know, here are the logistic gymnastics and contortions I put myself through to figure out how I feel about the Federal Election of 2015 and what to do about it:

1) I am partisan. My stance is Anything But Conservative. Some have said  that Stephen Harper's time is up and he has had his run. I say he should never have been allowed to commit his crimes against Canada. I blame about 30% of Canadian voters and a broken electoral system for the Conservative successes over that past 10 years. Canada is diminished because of them.

2) I am arrogant. I resist supporting an electoral system that is rigged and undemocratic to the point where it will give 100% legislative power to a party with 40% of the votes. "False majorities" have to stop.  I don't want to validate our system. I want to deprive it of the vote I am entitled to. This is the same vote that (I am occasionally reminded) people in other parts of the world would die for. That makes things a bit awkward for me, I will confess.

3) I see that, in spite of the above, votes are the currency that run our system. Often someone will say to me something like, "Yeah... but if nobody voted then...(this thing) would happen". In general terms that is impossible to reject, but almost always the hypotheticals offered to me are weightless in real-life situations. Still, votes make it all happen. Votes elect governments. I am not blind to that reality.

4) It is just true that in our current First-Past-The-Post system most ridings are safe ridings. A  pre-determined incumbent political party will take the seat, over and over, come Hell or high water. If you want to vote against the traditional winner there, go ahead, but your vote will not count in any way towards seeing your choice represented in parliament. Given the other way, if you vote for the traditional winner, that'll make you happy, but your intentions are still not weighted properly to allow for your wishes to translate to similar levels of parliamentary representation based on nationwide popularity. There is only a small number of ridings which will actually win the election for any party. These are the swing ridings, which means that no political party can count on winning them. Voters in swing ridings choose the government for the rest of Canada. Their votes are exponentially more influential than those in the safe ridings. The political parties know this and behave accordingly.

5) I will only willingly support a reformed electoral system. My favourite is Mixed Member Proportional Representation, which delivers roughly the same amount of political power to a party as they actually earned from the electorate. Currently Tom Mulcair and the NDP are offering to bring this in should they win enough influence in the election. Full disclosure? I am an NDP supporter and this plank in their platform is of defining importance to me. It is second only to removing Harper and his Conservatives from power.

Okay, with the above in mind... what the Hell am I supposed to do? My desire is to avoid supporting a system that I do not believe in, while furthering the Anything But Conservative cause, while also working towards a new Mixed Member Proportional Representation electoral system.

I live in the NDP safe riding of Vancouver Kingsway. If it were a swing riding I would hold my nose and vote for the candidate I thought had the best chance of beating the Conservative candidate.  Anything But Conservative is my first priority and it trumps my avoidance of voting. If this hypocrisy pleases you, so be it.  The truth is, though, that the NDP will win in my riding whether I vote for them or not. This gives me a luxury.  I have decided to go to the polls and refuse my ballot legally. I will take my ballot and then return it unmarked. It will be counted to register my lack of support for our electoral system.

Then I will go 20 blocks west to Vancouver Granville. It is one of the most hotly contested swing ridings in the country. I will spend four hours helping the NDP (hopefully) elect Mira Oreck to parliament. It is the only way I can think of to interact with our broken electoral system in a way that doesn't disgust me. I can  support the party I like in a way that might just effect the outcome. Me getting NDP voters to the polls in a swing riding is way more powerful than casting my ballot in a safe riding. It also gives me the satisfaction of having done something when the idea of doing nothing makes me so angry. I will engage our undemocratic and cynical system on its own terms.

That's it. I will refuse my ballot in my own safe riding and volunteer in a neighbouring swing riding. If you find that radical, I hope you'll at least give me the credit of having thought it out. I encourage you to interact with our electoral system however you like. If what I am doing pisses some people off,  that's okay... as long as they are thinking about it.

Now... I wonder who's going to win this mess. Also... If the NDP lose in my safe riding, expect to watch me eat crow on Facebook.