Case Studies
Below are various examples which explore individual situations and how enhanced democracy system can enable, empower and work with their needs.
TRUE POLITICAL FREEDOM
Juanita values philosophical political freedom and is a strong political activist. She is disillusioned by the first-past-the post voting system, that to her, limits her freedom because it produces governments that are a distortion of voter intent.
Under an enhanced voting system, a national parliament would have a percentage of voting members that come from proxies, thereby dramatically increasing the amount of informed people making decisions on issues of the day.
Juanita wants to have “true” political freedom. She is now able to transfer that vote to whomever she wants and is satisfied with new encryption technology to enhance her choices.
HIGHLIGHTING CHAMPIONS
Ahmed is a leader that is looking for champions of the environment and subtly trying to find new leaders that share his values.
The need for able leaders in this area of public policy is crucial because it impacts all other fields. Ahmed is especially concerned about the direction of a provincial crown corporation dealing with resources that appears not to be acting in sustainable ways. Luckily, there is an enhanced voting system is in place. The board of the crown corporation has 60% of its votes taken from proxies that are situated across the province. Ahmed has voted for five of them.
Additionally, Ahmed can also find subject matter leaders by sending out a request on the intranet “whom would be the best sustainability champion”?
STRONG LEADERSHIP
Keith believes strong leadership is the only way to run a country. His appreciation of strong, opinionated direction based on the countries will is the only solution to the political issues we have.
The ability of people to select leaders that represent their perspectives are enhanced under this system. Let’s say, for instance, that flooding occurs in a major metropolitan city, and people like Keith wish to have leaders that can act quickly and exhibit foresight to prevent future incidents. Under enhanced voting, voters can pick leaders that have a grasp on emerging and long-term issues. If those leaders fail to live up to expectations, their support can be withdrawn.
Keith’s appreciation of strong leadership can be recognized in a single transferable vote to anybody. In this structure, community leaders, municipal leaders and country leaders percolate to the top of every social group and are able to offer value. Keith can now rest easy knowing that our best leaders are “fighting” for the country.
TRANSPARENCY
Raphael hates corruption and is a strong promoter of government transparency.
A federal parliamentary committee has been established to find ways to strengthen Elections Canada’s mandate. Enhanced voting has been added to the committee. Half of the votes are from proxies across the country. They support motions that create more transparency to the way elections are conducted and urge the government to lower the voting age to 16.
Raphael can happily review the voting analytics to discover corruption and voter psychology. It is a tool that offers Raphael security.
WIDENING THE REACH
Samantha is a professional lobbyist working on behalf of a social advocacy group and is always trying hard to leverage her way into formal policy.
In particular, Samantha desires to end homelessness in Alberta. Under enhanced voting, 2/3rds of the Alberta legislature’s votes are cast from proxies. She can now focus her civic literacy efforts on a wider portion of the population rather than just a select few representatives, widening her advocacy efforts.
Samantha can now organize her groups and votes to maximize the weight of the lobby group using formal policy.