rfmcdonald | [URBAN NOTE] "Strategic voting: A troubling factor in Toronto’s race for mayor?" (Reply)

The Toronto Star's Betsy Powell reports about concerns of some that strategic voting in Toronto's mayoral elections--perhaps most importantly, people voting for John Tory instead of Olivia Chow in fear that a Chow vote might mean Doug Ford's election--is a bad phenomenon. When I went to the advance polls, after much prior thought I ended up voting for Chow. I like the candidate, Ford is behind Tory significantly, and quite frankly if Doug Ford gets elected it will be because a sizable plurality of Toronto's voters want him. Some sort of electoral reform would be nice, here.

Strategic voting in the 2014 Toronto mayoral race has become a hot and contentious topic — one that pundits and partisans suggest is a symptom of a flawed municipal electoral process that needs revamping.

“The last four years have been such a polarizing time for Torontonians, in terms of the Ford factor, that in a way it’s understandable that the issue of strategic voting may be prevalent for a significant number of voters,” Ryerson University politics professor Myer Siemiatycki said Saturday.

Those in the ABF (Anybody But Ford) camp are struggling with two impulses, Semiatycki said: Do I vote for the candidate I most prefer, or do I vote for the person who has the best chance of beating Doug Ford (open Doug Ford's policard)?

“That’s the no-man’s-land in which strategic voting dilemmas start to play out and, potentially, even become agonizing for voters.”

Brian Kelcey, campaign manager for former Toronto mayoralty candidate David Soknacki, said the message they heard knocking on doors was an “overwhelming strategic voting lesson loud and clear.”

“People said to David, ‘We love you, we love your ideas, you’ve got the best platform, but I’ve got to make my choice based on getting rid of Rob or Doug Ford — and maybe talk to me next time,’” Kelcey said Saturday.