Strategic voting may seem like a tool to combat a flawed system, but in reality, it is just another symptom of our elections' flaws
As we approach the upcoming provincial election, the overwhelming likelihood of a Conservative majority is pushing many students to consider voting strategically.
While the sentiment behind strategic voting — to avert the victory of a least-preferred party by voting for whichever other candidate has the best chance of winning — makes sense in certain circumstances, strategic voting is a critically flawed strategy that students should reconsider.
While many progressive organizations, such as unions, parties and community organizations, throw their weight behind strategic voting each election, there is little historical evidence to suggest they gain anything from subordinating their values to vote against Conservatives rather than for their preferred candidates.
As Larry Savage, a Brock University professor who has studied strategic voting, suggested in a 2022 article, there are a number of flaws with the strategy that make it an almost useless approach.
The first flaw he outlines is the inconsistency of tactical voting recommendations. Organizations often struggle to agree on which candidate to endorse as the strategic vote. Because of a critical lack of riding-level polling for most elections, recommendations can often contradict one another.
He also suggests that strategic voting campaigns often struggle to adapt to mid-campaign shifts in polling, leading to outdated or incorrect recommendations.
One strategic voting website's mishandling of Hamilton Centre, an important riding for many McMaster students, provides a clear example of strategic voting's issues. In making recommendations on how to vote in Hamilton-Centre, Smartvoting.ca demonstrated a number of flaws inherent in strategic voting.
This election for Hamilton-Centre is unprecedented in the riding’s 18-year history. For every election since the riding was recreated in 2007, the NDP candidate has won. From 2007 to 2022, this candidate was Andrea Horwath, who became the Ontario NDP leader in 2009. After the last provincial election, Horwath resigned as party leader to run for Hamilton mayor and Sarah Jama was elected MPP under the NDP for Hamilton Centre.
Now, after being removed from the Ontario NDP, Jama is running as an independent against the NDP’s newly declared candidate, Robin Lennox. Both candidates have ties to the McMaster community.
With no apparent direct polling at the riding-level, SmartVoting.ca has made recommendations for Hamilton Centre’s election. Their recommended strategic vote, possibly due to a lack of direct polling at the riding level, has now changed at least twice — from NDP to Sarah Jama and now back to NDP — which gave Jama enough time to proclaim herself in one Instagram post as the “best chance to make sure we keep this riding safe from Ford.”
It is particularly telling that according to SmartVoting’s own projection, the Conservatives stand no chance of winning Hamilton-Centre. Yet, instead of suggesting people vote based on their beliefs, they made a recommendation anyway. This choice is not an indictment of SmartVoting itself, but an indictment of the systemic flaws of strategic voting as a whole.
As shocking as it is for me to find myself agreeing with Liberal leadership, former Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca was right in the last election when he chose to run not as a “strategic choice” against Doug Ford, but on his party’s values and ideas. Strategic voting, similar in spirit to the often-proposed merger of Ontario Liberals and the Ontario NDP, is, as prominent Liberal Tim Murphy suggested about the proposed merger, a victory of shallow tactical politics over principles and values.
Strategic voting is symptomatic of a fundamentally flawed electoral system — a winner-takes-all approach that, for many, has turned voting on beliefs and principles into voting based on negative opinions of a right- or left-wing boogeyman. SmartVoting itself recognizes its purpose — but not the doom-and-gloom anti-Conservative rhetoric that fuels its use — as symptomatic of our first-past-the-post system and fails, like many other strategic voting services, to centre advocacy for electoral reform.
Strategic voting is symptomatic of a fundamentally flawed electoral system — a winner-takes-all approach that, for many, has turned voting on beliefs and principles into voting based on negative opinions of a right-or left-wing boogeyman.
Change-minded students should vote based on their genuine beliefs. We stand a far better chance of changing the results of the provincial election by actually voting for our values than by a few of us voting strategically.
And whoever your MPP ends up being, write to them to demand electoral reform.
Staring down the barrel of two conservative landslides, progressive students should aim to revive electoral reform to democratically empower themselves and others
On the eve of an Ontario election, set to take place on Feb. 27 and a looming federal election likely sometime this summer, conservatives at the provincial and federal level appear to be ascendant. But it shouldn't have to be like this. If students can get organized, it may not have to be.
Canada’s federal election was given a timeline when, on Jan. 6, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he will be resigning as liberal leader and requested that parliament be kept on leave until a new leader was chosen. This next leader will likely face an election soon after parliament resumes at the end of March, as NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has indicated his intention to vote with the other opposition parties for an election.
When asked what he regretted most by reporters at the announcement of his resignation, Justin Trudeau cited his abandonment of electoral reform during his first term as leader after the 2015 election.
It was after that election, when the Liberals won a majority in the federal parliament, that they convened a committee of all the parties in parliament to propose a path for electoral reform. When all four opposition parties, including the conservatives, came back with a proposal Justin Trudeau didn't like, the Liberals abandoned their promised reform entirely.
When all four opposition parties, including the conservatives, came back with a proposal Justin Trudeau didn't like, the Liberals abandoned their promised reform entirely.
Nine years later, this proposal for proportional representation — where parties would gain seats proportional to their share of the popular vote, not based on the number of ridings they win — looks like a pretty good deal.
Ontario’s upcoming snap-election looks to be a secure win for Doug Ford. Despite his record of a massive cut to OSAP, being under RCMP investigation for corruption and most recently making bike lanes all but impossible to build, no opposition party appears to be mounting a serious challenge in the polls.
Students, generally in the age group least likely to vote in Canada, could change the election by turning out en-masse. While students absolutely should vote in the upcoming election, McMaster students alone are not well positioned to make a difference in the progressive seats of Hamilton-Centre and West-Hamilton-Ancaster-Dundas.
Politically active students might have better luck starting or joining party-affiliated clubs on campus, which offer a chance to organize and make their voices on policies such as electoral reform heard. Some political parties even allow student organizations to vote on party affairs and policy.
Despite current polling data, all hope is not lost, as progressive students may have a strange ally in their quest to stop conservative majorities at the Provincial and National level: Donald Trump.
Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025 caused great political change north of the border. Provincially, it was Doug Ford’s supposed reasoning for calling an election. Federally, it spells a much different story. It is possible one of the main factors behind a recent decline in Conservative polling.
While this decline is not yet critical, as tensions with the United States of America continue to build and the liberal leadership race continues, the polls may continue to slide.
If Ontario is a long-shot, changing the Federal Election results seems like a possibility. But without a clear vision and without organizing, students can't hope to change either. Ontario’s election is our chance to get organized and serves as a warning of what lacking the infrastructure – only one party has a campus affiliate – for organizing means. But our vision should be clear, young people need electoral reform.
Ontario’s election is our chance to get organized and serves as a warning of what lacking the infrastructure – only one party has a campus affiliate – for organizing means.
Proportional representation, an electoral system that awards seats in parliament based on the amount of votes a whole party gets, could enable more parties to gain seats and work together in forming and running a government. It could also prevent the parliamentary majorities that swing Canadian politics drastically on sometimes less than 40 per cent of the vote.
Students are, as mentioned above, overwhelmingly part of the age demographic least likely to vote. Their reasoning, according to Elections Canada, is a feeling that governments don't really respond to their voices or votes.
Without student organizations and pressure, electoral reform might never regain the momentum it had in 2015. But if we as students get organized now and demand electoral reform, we could change how students feel about the impact of their vote and empower students to play a larger role in determining the future of the country.
[spacer height="20px"]By Angela Dittrich
As young adults, we experience a lot of exciting and important milestones — getting our driver’s license, attaining legal adulthood and entering university, college or the workforce. An often overlooked milestone is becoming a voter, or rather, becoming individuals with a rarely-exercised right to vote.
McMaster University students are a vital part of the Ward 1 community, and yet we continuously fail to show up to the polling stations. And before I continue, yes, you can vote here. Not only can you vote here, you should — whether you live in residence, in a student home, or commute from another part of the city.
On October 22nd, 2018, The Municipal Elections will take place to determine the new Mayor and Ward Councillors for the Hamilton area. Get your voice heard by voting is upcoming election. #MacVotes https://t.co/Q9arEqrdc0 pic.twitter.com/kALkZgbmTw
— McMaster Humanities (@mcmasterhum) October 12, 2018
Hamilton, for better or worse, is your home for on average four years of undergrad, and potentially beyond. Electoral issues such as housing, transit, and safety affect every one of us on a daily basis. If we speak up and elect a councillor willing to listen, we can influence real change in this city. This election, I urge you to consider some of these major issues, evaluate what matters most to you, and make certain your opinion is heard.
With 25,000 undergraduate students and only 4000 beds on campus, navigating through off-campus housing, landlords, and leases is part of the typical McMaster student experience. Unfortunately, there are homes packed to over-capacity, absent or negligent landlords and rising costs of rent which create levels of stress beyond what students should be experiencing.
As well, safety has become a major concern for many student housing neighbourhoods due to an increased number of break-ins this year. We are much more than university students; we are members of this community. We need to elect a councillor who will make housing a priority, hold landlords accountable, and address our safety concerns to make our neighbourhoods a better and safer place.
One of the most defining features of this election is transit. The fate of our proposed light rail transit system hangs in the balance as Doug Ford threatens to revoke the promised provincial funding. While transit is not the most exciting issue, it significantly impacts our everyday lives. McMaster would house an LRT terminal, providing us with a faster and more reliable way to get around and explore the city. The McMaster Students Union has taken a pro-LRT stance, and if we want this project to succeed, our Ward 1 councillor and mayor must be on board.
A more current issue is the Hamilton Street Railway. In 2017, students voted to increase tuition fees in exchange for expanded HSR service. However, last fall, there were over 200 hours of missed bus service each week, to the point where students could not rely on public transit to arrive to their exams on time. McMaster students are the HSR’s largest rider group, contributing over $4.5 million annually, yet we are constantly overlooked in times of financial stress. By voting, we show the city that our transit needs must be valued, and that the level of service provided needs to match our financial contributions.
If you’re still unsure, think about it this way — your voice is just as powerful, just as important, and just as valued as those who have lived in Hamilton for decades. We are all impacted by at least one key issue in this election: housing, transit, safety, the environment, student relations, student job opportunities, or economic growth.
But voting comes with great responsibility. Take the time to research the Ward 1 and mayoral candidates, as well as their stances on the key issues. Many young adults feel like their vote doesn’t matter, and unfortunately, by the way we are viewed by most of city council, that feeling makes sense. But this can change if we vote.
Go out to lunch with your friends and swing by the voting station. Talk to your classmates about why you’re planning to vote. Make a post on social media about your voting experience or issues that matter to you. We should all leave a place better than we found it, and making your voice heard in this Hamilton election is an incredible first step. On Oct. 22, make your vote count. See you at the polls, Marauders.
For information on Ward 1 councillor candidate platforms:
[button link="https://www.thesil.ca/meet-your-ward-1-councillor-candidates" color="red"]VIEW ALL CANDIDATE PLATFORMS[/button]
Questions on how to vote?
[button link="https://www.thesil.ca/ward-1-voting-101-a-voting-guide-for-mac-students" color="red"]WARD 1 VOTING GUIDE[/button]
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