Unpublished letter sent to the Toronto Star

Re: Election results revive calls for change, June10, 2018.

Electoral reform is one of many changes that would enhance the voting process and engage voters but few are ever even considered, let alone implemented. The first-past-the-post antiquated system simply increases the frustration in an increasingly complex world.

The first change is proportional representation. The first-past-the-post system is an ancient British elitist system that wastes the votes of the losers. It was designed to present government as democratic while only rich, white, male, land-owning aristocrats were allowed to participate. The apathy of voters was built in. There was no point in voting even when they could when the elections were all a foregone conclusion. It was a two-party sham and we adopted it with gusto. We have been going through the motions for centuries. Proportional representation uses every vote to count towards parliamentary representation and as such is fundamentally democratic. It leads to no single party having a majority and all votes being counted. Multiple-party coalitions (a dirty word in first-past-the-post) are common.

The second is to reform the voting system. It is ironic that the most important function in society is stuck in the dark ages. Digital communication and use have revolutionized society, government and business yet there is little interest in implementing online voting. Concerns over the problems are overblown and an excuse for keeping us in the past. Trillions of dollars are moved around the world by secure, encrypted devices but we still resist allowing people to vote online. Voting should be web-based and electronic. You could log in with your social insurance number and verify your id with other personal pieces of information. A simple phone function could allow people to key in their choices. Such a move would save hundreds of millions of dollars, provide instantaneous data collection and provide anyone, anywhere and at any time the opportunity to vote. The fifty percent of people who mysteriously do not vote would be empowered. Similarly, Smarthones could be used for serious business rather than as a social distraction for humanity. Governments should be regularly posing questions on policies, legislation and items being discussed in the House of Commons to gain crucial and evidence-based information that would drive decisions. Technology has permeated every other part of society except government

Voting should be made mandatory. If it is such an important right of all citizens, it should be required of every citizen as in Australia. We are all required to keep our immunization up-to-date and our driver’s licences, why not our voting rights?

Finally, the Liberals and the NDP should merge the left. The first-past-the-post system is a two-party system. The two platforms are virtually identical anyway.

There is any app for virtually everything else but not voting. It’s time there was. These changes would transform our voting system and with it, society.