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I didn’t know what I was doing in the voting booth (fedia.io)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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There were a dozen or so lists to choose from. I selected a list. Normally I would just select the list and tap submit. But someone told me that if you select an individual it adds weight to the vote or gives them more power somehow. So when I choose a list, the screen is filled with a candidate for every position.

Should I select every single name on that screen? Someone told me you only need to select the party and all names are automatically chosen. But what’s the situation with the extra weight?

I got an A4 paper flyer from Ecolo/groen that lists over 40 candidates in their party which corresponds for every position. But about ¼ of the names are highlighted and have a green checkmark next to them. What does that mean? Does it mean that only ~25% are actually with the green party and the other 75% are other candidates who are merely endorsed by the green party?

Another ecolo/groen flyer lists only a dozen or so names, some matching the checked names on the other flyer and some not. It’s quite confusing to work out what going on here.

I wonder if I did not vote at all for some positions. I just don’t get it.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Voting for the list as a whole means you vote for that party and you're happy with the order of the list. Meaning if the party gets, say, 3 seats, you're happy with the first three people to be elected.

On the other hand, imagine your friend is in 7th place, and you vote for her instead of the top of the list. If she receives more individual votes than the first person on the list, then she'll be first in line filling the seats.

So it doesn't really give you more power in terms of voting total (it's still one vote for one list) but you do have the power to give your opinion on who you want to see elected more specifically.

I haven't seen the pamphlets, but it's possible that the checkmarks show who is already an elected member?

Although it is possible to have non-members of a party on a list, but there are usually few (if any) and it is specified next to their name.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That kind of clears some things up. I appreciate the explanation.

But I guess I’m still confused because each candidate (or at least some candidates) seem to be running for a specific position. So if a party gets X number of seats, I would not expect the seats to be arbitrary. One of the seats is for mayor, IIUC, which I think is position #1.

You seem to imply that the order of the list matters. So if everyone just votes for the list without selecting individuals (which is likely very common), then does that mean someone very low on list (by default) in position 40+ has a very low chance of getting elected? It seems like everyone within the list of a party is competing with each other as well.

I guess I need to research not just which party to favor, but all the individual candidates as well to know how to influence the rankings.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Well, the order of the list is not arbitrary. It is decided and voted on within each party. The person who would take on the position of mayor is first on the list. And yes, the lower you are on the list, the less likely to be elected. Some people choose to be on a list just to show their support for a particular party.

With one exception for the very last person on the list who traditionally receives a lot of personal votes and may end up elected even though they are not high up on the list.

So you can of course research each candidate and you may vibe with some more than others, but the order you see is the one the party suggests to you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Nice explanations.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the info. That makes sense. So I take it we can only vote for a single party, correct? I don’t suppose I could vote for Bob at Ecolo and Alice at PTB.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Yup, one party only. You'd have to choose one of your friends to vote for.