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Articles on Electoral reform

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Our first-past-the-post electoral system works poorly when there are lots of three-way races and even some four-way races. Seats can be won with far less than a majority, meaning it’s time to revisit electoral reform. Pietro Mattia/Unsplash

Canada’s first-past-the-post electoral system highlights once again the need for reform

New research offers a new electoral system that can deliver proportionality and even enhance local representation.
A sign keeping campaigners at a distance in the New Hampshire presidential primary election at the Town Hall in Chichester, New Hampshire, Feb. 9, 2016. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

19th-century political parties kidnapped reluctant voters and printed their own ballots – and that’s why we’ve got laws regulating behavior at polling places

Laws that have long kept campaigners away from voters at polling places may not work in a world where a T-shirt symbol can be interpreted as campaigning.
Allowing MPs to vote electronically would go a long way to promoting gender equity in Canadian politics. (Pixabay)

How e-voting could close Canada’s political gender gap

To boost inclusivity among its ranks, the House of Commons needs parliamentary reform of its voting procedures to allow electronic online voting, or e-voting, for its members.
Members of the Indigenous Amis tribe in traditional costumes participate in the yearly harvest festival in Kaohsiung, Taiwan in September 2018. (Shutterstock)

Taiwan must find ways to enhance Indigenous representation

For Indigenous voters in Taiwan, the current system prevents many of them from having an impact on the election of representatives where they live.
The ‘United We Roll’ convoy of semi-trucks travels the highway near Red Deer, Alta., in February 2019 en route to Ottawa to protest what it called a lack of support for the energy sector and stalled pipelines. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Satisfaction with Canada’s democracy declines significantly in Alberta

Determining whether Canadians are gaining or losing confidence in democracy depends in part on which region one is examining. Contrasting trends in Alberta and Québec provide clues.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern arrive at the Commonwealth Heads of Government 2018 meeting in Windsor, England, in April 2018. New Zealand moved from the first-past-the-post electoral system in 1993 to a system that helped put Ardern in power. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

What Canada can learn from New Zealand on electoral reform

Unlike Canada’s newly elected House of Commons, New Zealand’s parliament reflects the will of voters. So do other proportional representation systems. Canada has plenty of choice.
B.C. Premier John Horgan created a meme when he said: ‘If you were woke, you’d know that pro rep is lit.’ THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The meme-ification of politics: Politicians & their ‘lit’ memes

Politicians have been using memes to appear cool, plugged in, even ‘lit.’ Here’s why that’s not necessarily a smart idea.

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