The Voter Questionnaire - a new, technology-enabled and domain-based election model

THE VOTER QUESTIONNAIRE

Purpose:

This document is intended to present a new, technology-enabled and domain-based  election model designed to overcome the limitations of the current monolithic system. 

Features:

·      10 GEDoRs – Government’s Elected Domains of Responsibility

·      Online voting via a Perpetual Voters Platform.

·      Published Vision Statements for each GEDoR by every competing Political Party

·      Up to 10 votes per person – one for each GEDoR

·      Election Results statistics to govern priorities across all GEDoRs

·      All Political Parties have the chance to govern one or more GEDoRs

Example: Ontario Provincial Election Results using the Voter Questionnaire election process.

ELECTION LOGISTICS

Highlights:  

·      The Voter Questionnaire (VQ) replaces the traditional ballot.

·      Voting will take place online using Perpetual Voter Portal [PVP].

·      All voters are eligible to  “prefer” up to 10 Vision Statements – one for each GEDoR.

·      To qualify as an election participant, all Political Parties [PP] must author and publish a Vision Statement [VS] for as many of the 10 Governments’ Elected Domains of Responsibility [GEDoR] in which they wish to compete.

Vision Statement [VS] format:  

·      States the Political Party’s belief and proposed approach regarding the role and extent of government versus private sector involvement within the GEDoR.

·      States the Political Party’s commitment, if elected, to contain its sources of GEDoR funding, choosing between one of 4 options:

a.  100% funded by taxation or public debt.

b.  Over 2/3 funded by taxation or public debt.

c.   Between 1/3 and 2/3 of funding from taxation or public debt.

d.  Zero funding from taxation or public debt.

VS examples for “Health” GEDoR:  Note that the Health GEDoR online screen will present all eligible VS submissions but the PP identities will be  omitted [The “Blind VS”]. Also note that the last 2 options are available to declare no preference. 

                        I.         I prefer to de-monopolize the Health Care system in order to improve efficiencies through competition and private sector investments. No more than 50% funding from public sources. [Ontario PC Party]

                      II.         I prefer to maintain a publicly run Health system and meet rising Health care costs through public funding. [Ontario Liberal Party]

                    III.         I prefer to legalize, commercialize and tax marijuana to increase revenues for our government-run Health Care system [Ontario Freedom Party]

                    IV.         I don't care how the government meets its financial obligations as  long as my Health Care needs are met 100% with government programs [Ontario NDP].

                      V.         I prefer a new carbon tax to address rising public Health Care costs. [Ontario Green Party]

                    VI.         None of the above.

                  VII.         I do not have an opinion on this topic.

Perpetual Voter Portal [PVP]:

Purposes:

·      Provides the technology platform to collect votes during Elections and for Referendums.

·      The use of modern technology for voting purposes enables greater flexibility to  implement and deploy changes to voting procedures. For example, any combination and variation of First Past the Post and/or Proportional Representation election models can be readily accommodated.

·      Remains active for the entire 4 year elected term to enable all citizens to modify their VQ responses at any time but without changing the election results during the 4 year term.  This “citizen feedback”  will be readily available to all interested parties, especially the PPs who manage GEDoRs.  The media will also be able to report on the performance of all Governing GEDoR leaders using realtime statistics.

·      Performance Bonuses  can be easily implemented. For example, any elected GEDoR  Leader may  fail to accrue 4 employment years’ credit  towards a government pension if he/she fails to exceed  the initial winning  percentage of the popular vote for that GEDoR after 4 years in the job.

·      Provides a wealth of data for studying trends in public voting preferences regarding government involvement in their lives.

VS exambles “Taxation & Spending” GEDoR:

                        I.         I prefer to limit spending to the prior year’s tax revenues. Debt-financing can only be used for infrastructure investments [Ontario PC Party]

                      II.         I prefer to restrict spending increases to inflation + population growth. Debt-financing is an acceptable instrument to meet the public’s needs in the areas of Health, Environment and Infrastructure investments. [Ontario Liberal Party]

                    III.         I prefer to tax the highest paid citizens and distribute the proceeds to the “working families” of Ontario in order to comply with our vision of fairness and equality. [Ontario NDP]

                    IV.         I prefer to limit spending growth to inflation + population growth. Carbon taxes and debt-financing are acceptable instruments to finance government efforts to contain the threats of global warming,   protect our natural  environments and to finance Infrastructure investments. [Ontario Green Party]

                      V.         I prefer to systematically reduce government spending and taxation by 5% per year until such time that Provincial Government spending does not exceed 7% of provincial GDP. All privatization efforts and spending priorities will otherwise be determined by the statistics gathered by the Voter Questionnaire election format. [Ontario Libertarian Party]

                    VI.         None of the above.

                  VII.         I do not have an opinion on this topic.

VQ Preparation, Release, Use  and Reporting

A.      A VQ co-ordinating body [possibly the company that provides the PVP services] prepares the Voter Questionnaire [VQ ] for the upcoming election or referendum with participating PPs. Completed 60 days before Election. NOTE: No VS will be identified on the VQ by the PP who created it. 

B.      Election campaigns start 45 days prior to the first day of Election Month. Media is encouraged to “give equal time” to all PPs’ VSs in order to inform and encourage public debate.  The VQ will be made available to all interested persons or organizations.  The goal: to familiarize voters with its contents via media programs, publications and events designed to further voter interest.  

C.       Election Month: Technology-enabled voting will facilitate various modalities and venues for casting one’s VS preferences.   A 30-day election period provides ample time for voters to carefully consider all VS options for all 10 GEDoRs.

D.      10 Votes per voter: Each voter “prefers” one VS from each GEDoR. Voters no longer vote for a PP, but only for their preferred VS. Voters can mark as many or as few of the 10 GEDoRs as they desire, but declare only one “prefer” per GEDoR.  The post-election Official Tally of Results will report all the voting statistics.

WHO WINS?

Political

•              Premier –  is provided by the Party that accumulates the largest number of votes tallied.

•              GEDoR Leaders - supplied by the PP that accumulates the largest number of GEDoR votes tallied.

Democracy

·               Spending and resource allocation priorities will be determined, in priority sequence, by the ranking of GEDoRs where the largest number of votes were tallied.

·               Political Parties will gravitate towards, and attract,  members and political candidates  who possess the expertise to be knowledgeable and credible within specific GEDoRs. This, in turn, will result in the election of GEDoR Leaders who are much more qualified than the assigned Ministers with portfolio in our current system. Over time, all PPs will likely create a widely-recognized and easily-identified “brand”. Such a brand  that will be established and re-enforced [ or damaged]  by the PP’s  accumulated track record of living up to, and protecting, its reputation in the same way that successful corporations do. Shallow and empty political rhetoric will carry less weight when the “citizen feedback”  history for  each political party will be captured and readily available on the Perpetual Voter Platform.

·                 The “Blind VS” is intended to elicit considered and genuine VS preferences based on governing vision [ approach and principles] rather than on blind “party allegiance” or “Beauty Contest” [aka “charisma” voting]. If a voter has done his/her homework concerning each party’s publically-stated VS, then democracy still achieves its goal of obtaining better-informed voters.

·                 The VQ accommodates all voter types – from the “one issue” voter to the democratically “engaged and informed” citizen.  It discourages  “voting for voting’s sake” and encourages citizens to understand and discriminate between published and unique Vision Statements concerning the role of government and the source of funds for spending.

·                 Perpetual Voter Portal [PVP] will eventually become as familiar to voters as Google is today. Information is abundant on the net - most people today “shop online” for goods and service. Why not for political content that is structured around GEDoR and VS within a familiar PVP?

·                 Citizens change in their political interests [or lack thereof] over their lifetime due to their changing circumstances regarding careers, family responsibilities, financial circumstances, social influences, education and age-related needs. By employing the enabling capabilities of  modern and emerging technologies, each and every citizen can main a record of all past personal voting behavior and use this as a way of reviewing information “snapshots” that will reveal insights into their own attitudes and behaviours as a democracy participant.  This feature will likely appeal to a lot of citizens and begin to erode the apathy that many feel regarding their involvement in the political process today.

Democracy should be “alive” every day, not resuscitated and revitalized once every 4 years. 

WHY NOW?

•       Our world is infinitely more complex than it was when our electoral system was originally designed.

•       Technology exists to capture and process voter data in ways never before possible.

•       We live in an age of increasing specialization and its time that our government leaders and organizational structures becomes aligned with this reality.

•       Personal and public Debt levels threaten standards of living in democracies everywhere, and poor government fiscal discipline sets a bad example for us all.

•       Growing public concern about “societal issues” requires a more focused approach that will be better achieved by GEDoR scope management and more appropriate alignment of the expertise and resources needed.

The times are right

to enlist broad public support in order to

craft a more robust democracy….

- one that is shaped and driven by a substantially

better-informed and more engaged

electorate.

Gene Balfour , October 26, 2013