Tuesday 2 October 2007

MMP or FPTP - Referendum Picker Quiz (version 1)

UPDATE
For the more serious poll, version 2, go to this link:
Referendum Picker Quiz v.2





This is a quiz to help you chose how to vote in the Referendum on Oct. 10 2007 in Ontario.

Get a pen and paper and write down your answers. Then score the answer and total your score and refer to the Score Results at the end to see how you should vote.

Note: Nothing takes the place of full and proper research from both sides. But, if you have done that and are still unsure, this quiz might help.



QUESTIONS

1) I would prefer to have my vote count and my voice be represented in parliament

a) only if I vote for the winning candidate in my riding

b) always, no matter who I vote for


2) I would prefer

a) a majority government that represents the real majority of the people

b) a majority government that usually represents only a minority of the people


3) I would prefer members of parliament to

a) spend half their time saying how bad the other parties are

b) spend most of their time finding ways to work together to get things done for the people of Ontario


4) I would prefer to

a) only have one choice in a election, to vote for either for the candidate or the party

b) be able to have 2 choices in an election, to vote for a local candidate AND for a party


5) I would prefer to

a) vote for the party whose ideas I most closely believe in, with confidence that my voice will be heard in parliament

b) vote for a party even though I don't like their ideas, because if I voted for the party whose ideas I most closely believe in, the candidate in my riding who represents the party I like the least might get in.


6) I would prefer to have

a) one representative in parliament, even though he/she might not be from the party I support.

b) more than one representative in parliament, so I'm most likely to have a representative from the party I support.


7) I prefer to

a) listen to reason regarding elections and politics

b) listen to fear regarding elections and politics


8) I would prefer to

a) spend less tax dollars and have less representation in parliament and have a government that most likely does not represent my views make the decisions on how to spend my tax dollars

b) spend a bit more in tax dollars and have more representation in parliament and have a government that most likely does represent my views make the decisions on how to spend my tax dollars


9) If you were in a riding where the party you support never usually has a chance of winning, which of the following would make you more likely to vote in an election

a) if you knew that the local candidate/party you vote for would probably lose, and then you would not be represented in parliament by a candidate/party of your choosing

b) if you knew that the local candidate you vote for would probably lose, but that you could also vote for the party you want and be represented by them in parliament (regardless of whether your local candidate wins or loses)


10) When it comes to my decision making on the topic of electoral reform, I would prefer to trust

a) a group of citizens (The Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform), who were randomly selected by Elections Ontario - a non-partisan group, who studied different electoral systems used around the world for a whole year and came to the overwhelmingly conclusion that Ontario should chose a new electoral system - Mixed Member Proportional

b) journalists and individuals using scare tactics and assumptions not based in reality when writing about electoral reform


SCORING

1) a-0, b-1

2) a-1, b-0

3) a-0, b-1

4) a-0, b-1

5) a-1, b-0

6) a-0, b-1

7) a-1, b-0

8) a-0, b-1

9) a-0, b-1

10) a-1, b-0



SCORE RESULTS

0 - First Past The Post All The Way!

You should vote to keep the current electoral system of FPTP


1-4 - First Past The Post

You should vote to keep the current electoral system of FPTP, but you think there are some good things about MMP


5-6 - Research More

You are beginning to get the picture about MMP, but you still believe FPTP has it's merits. You should do more research before Oct. 10th.


7-9 - Mixed Member Proportional

You should vote for the new electoral system of MMP, but you still think there are a few things about FPTP you like better


10 - Mixed Member Proportional All The Way!

You should vote for the new electoral system of MMP


8 comments:

Mark Greenan said...

Great post! You should consider cross-posting it to the Vote for MMP site.

It's a Drupal site, so it's really easy to sign up for an account and start your own blog.

Russell McOrmond said...

Unrelated to post: Your poll has a "yes" and a "no" in it, even though this isn't going to be on the referendum ballot at all.

I am voting for MMP (really against FPTP), which I believe is "yes" under your poll. Yours is not a clear question ;-)

Thor said...

It asks, will you be voting FOR MMP?

Scott said...

If you don't mind me saying, this "quiz" isn't very scientific. The questions are worded intentionally in favour of MMP.

ie: 1) I would prefer to have my vote count and my voice be represented in parliament
a) only if I vote for the winning candidate in my riding
b) always, no matter who I vote for

The question itself implies that with MMP your voice will be heard and with FPTP your voice won't be heard. It could be argued that every person's voice is heard in a FPTP system AND/OR your voice will not be heard in MMP.

I guess I'd like to see a quiz like this that isn't so obviously biased.

If a FPTP supporter wrote this poll, they would ask:
1) What kind of government do you like?
a) Governments that get things done
b) Governments that waste a lot of time and money pointlessly

If (a), vote for FPTP.

I'm not saying that, but this quiz is so obviously biased that it's worthless.

Thor said...

Yes, it is not very scientific. I'm working on a proper version (version 2).

One of my points with version 1 was to set things in a similar way as the No camp is setting their arguments against MMP. This pretty much takes it to the other extreme.

A more objective one is coming soon.

Anonymous said...

Geez, but I do like to vote according to the scare tactics of journalists and critics .... what to do, what to do???

Anonymous said...

You've got to be kidding here.

Thor said...

Yes, kidding. See version 2
http://drivingtheporcelainbus.blogspot.com/2007/10/ontario-referendum-picker-quiz-v2.html