Preferential Voting - KISS II

Reduce the entire thing to this, for real: "The system creates an “instant runoff” where, if no candidate gets 50 per cent of the first-choice votes, the second choices are then added to the tallies, and so on until a candidate achieves a majority." That's right, get rid of the whole "knocking candidates off & redistributing their votes if no candidate has a majority even after counting all the preferences". Why? "The Perfect Is The Enemy Of The Good" is the argument for preferential voting in the first place, a 2nd or 3rd best option v.-à-v. the ideal voting models of proportional proponents, but far superior to them in one crucial aspect: preferential may actually be politically achievable...perhaps. And upon consideration, I propose a 2nd best version of preferential voting, which would have the happy side-effect of helping small parties a bit more than the usual model. List your preferences, count until a candidate achieves a majority, and if no majority, then most votes (plurality). That can be understood by all voters.

Having sold the Green Shift door to door, I know that even the most seemingly simple policy proposals (+1-1= 0) can be difficult to convey. I had great success with the Green Shift, judging from the results of the polls I canvassed, but I was unusually willing to spend five minutes at the door explaining it, which was inefficient (cost benefit: win votes vs. time spent). I foresee the whole "dropping candidates and redistributing their votes" thing as much worse. And wasted effort, as those situations are extremely rare.

If you think about it, you'll realise just how rare it is for no candidate to have obtained 50%+1 after four or five (QC) rounds of voting. Of course a new electoral system would change the number and nature of parties, and their behaviour, that's the whole point, but let's work with the current setup of four-party competition outside QC, five within. Assuming current results are a very rough indicator of 1st preferences, it is easy to foresee that ridings like Saanich-Gulf Islands would be rare exceptions, where one might not have any majority after simple preference count (unlikely, even then). Given that 95%+ of ridings will have majorities after first count (and I'm being conservative), it would be silly to be so intent on majority criterium so as to propose a system over-complicated in Canadians' eyes. It's not worth it.

Just tell them, rank your candidates, we count them, first to 50%+1 wins. What if no-one gets 50%+1? Then candidate with most votes wins.

This would also favour smaller parties a bit more.

I linked to all my other previous arguments here.