Green Factor

Much like the 2000 election in the US where some voters were confused by the butterfly ballots in parts of Florida, a similar thing seems to be making news in Vancouver's municipal election, i.e. the argument that some voters mistakenly voted for James Green when they meant to vote for Jim Green. Since James Green got considerably more votes than any other independent and the fact the two combined would have received more votes than Sam Sullivan, the argument goes several Jim Green supporters accidently voted for James Green.

I for one do not think one should second guess voters. Since we don't write our name on ballots and we cannot find out how each individual voted, there is no way of really knowing how many were accidental votes or real votes for James Green. I suspect that they were probably many who accidentally voted for the wrong Green, but I think it is unlikely it would have changed the final outcome, as they are some people who probably did actually intend to vote for James Green. I think the best thing is to look at the exit polls and see what kind of numbers James Green got versus the actual number of votes he got. If it looks like a lot of mistakes were made, the ballot should be designed better, but not have the election overturned. The fact is I always double check my ballot to make sure I didn't accidentally mark the wrong candidate. I don't hand my ballot in until I am 100% sure I voted for who I wanted to vote for. In fact I even counted the number of councillors, school board members, and park board members I voted for to makes sure I didn't vote for too many, so a lesson to all voters; no matter how rushed you are, take the time to check the ballot carefully and make sure you have marked the person you want to vote for. If you have trouble reading the ballot or understanding it, ask for assistance, which you can do. Finally read the whole ballot, not just until you see the candidate you think you want to vote for.

At the same time, I think the election officials could have done a few things different. As is done in the provincial and federal elections, the party name should be written out completely in large print so people with poor eye sight can read it. On the municipal ballots, Besides Jim Green's name was VV in small print, which someone could easily mistaken as a W and not know what it means, whereas the field beside James Green's name was blank. If I designed the ballot, beside Jim Green's name would have been Vision Vancouver written out fully and not in small print. Likewise, Independent would be written beside James Green's name. If people still made mistakes, then that is their problem, not that of the voting officials. In addition I don't believe that the fact James Green had a similar name to Jim Green should disqualify him from running. In a democratic and free country, everyone who is eligible to run should be able to do so. It would be like saying if someone on the ballot had the name Myles Lunn, I would have to drop out as people might confuse the two of us. And besides James Green entered the race before either Sam Sullivan or Jim Green were nominated as candidates so this idea that he was an NPA creation to split Vision Vancouver's votes is completely silly. That may have been an unintended consequence, but that was certainly not the reason he ran.