More thoughts on my election strategy

Having been challenged by an e-mailer who thought that my picks were more hypothetical than strategic let's look at the choices of strategy. One would be to use all the votes allowed and make choices based on rationale, the other would be to "Plump" - only vote for your essential choices.

"Plumping" works on the theory that as you only vote for a fewer number of candidates their chances become stronger because you are denying the others your vote. As an aside I have heard that some people will not be voting for the position of Deputy Mayor as not only do they not want Mr Brocanier to win they don't think much of Mr Schumann. The idea that by only voting for one person in a five person race is that the vote cast is five times stronger because of the missing four votes.

However in my case where I have voted for five people and none for the people who I wish to see deposed, what's the difference. In fact I have made five peoples votes stronger because I have denied the others my vote.

Plumping will only work when you do not have enough of your selections to fill out the allowed ballot.

A response to the previous

Some response to the election edition

Hi, Ben:Well,
I'm very disappointed.I wish you had used your influence to help elect an actual council, rather than promote a hypothetical one. In particular, you are suggesting that people fritter away their precious five councillor votes by selecting some candidates who do not have a real chance to get in. This is one municipal election in a generation where (by electing three new councillors rather than just two) we have a chance to break the hold of the old guard in Cobourg. I expected that you, with your excellent historical grasp of the situation, would have been more, er, strategic.
Certainly merit should normally guide us. I know and like Rob, and I have met and was impressed by Melissa, and at first I thought Howie might be the right person to have the swing vote on council. But none of them has much of a chance this time, and there's a grave danger that MacDonald will slip back in because of lack of voter focus.
You could have helped with this. A few votes put in the right place could make all the difference. For four years.

And the response:

In my case I stand by the picks, I just cannot abide any more of what we have had for the past six years. Even three of the old guard would have been too much - MacCaughey in planning for 4 more years to give us more of the same - what the developers want in the name of pragmatism and cooperative development, MacDonald too bloody idle to speak up except to say "give me what Mr Peacock wants" and Spooner to say whatever he thinks you want to hear and then he can tell his Dutch Oven buddies what he told us,
No. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to be on Council and all of the people who stood can think for themselves and produce a reasonable consensus guided by the facts from the Staff to be able.
Three new councillors will not break the old guard there will still be a majority of them and none of the three will have the stomach not to be coopted in the next four years in the face of always being on the wrong side or being accused of lack of knowledge.
If the only criteria for a vote is to go by who you or anybody else thinks "will get in" then I suggest that you don't need an independent voter just a sheep with its finger in the wind trying to guess what others will pick.
Call me naive but if we don't start doing what we want then we will be stuck with what we have now.

BTW the sane one in the house (the love of my life) is also ragging me for this approach!

My choices for the vote!

In making these choices I made two assumptions. One: none of the incumbents deserved to be re-elected, their offenses against the Official plan were of the hanging variety and their inability to listen to the electorate are the main reasons for me. Councillor Brocanier boasts about having listened to 45 delegations in the last year, well Gil listening and Listening are two different things. Sitting in one's chair like Buddha and then having the Mayor say, "Thank you for coming" is not meaningful listening.

You don't have to be a brain surgeon to be on Council, just an independent mind and the guts to state your opinion

So here they are:

• Mayor: Lloyd Williams, despite the bizarre campaign tactic of admitting that he will not win he succeeded in getting the issues out. He gets my vote because he has pledged to reform the "coordinator system", I hope he destroys it!
  
  
• Deputy Mayor: Manfred Schumann, despite a rather flat public performance he has put forward a platform of thought and substance. His opponent has only said that he plans to use a "line by line" budget review as his tax cutting tool. Sorry Gil but you used that last year and the year before that and the year before that and taxes never went down but spending spiraled upward.
  
  
• Councillor: Stan Frost, he has the biggest vested interest in reducing taxes - he pays the most, so get to it Stan cut taxes!
  
  
• Councillor: Howie McCourt, he is the most straightforward of the list, I like him, I have worked with him and I trust him. Besides he understands the Official Plan.
  
  
• Councillor: Miriam Mutton, Miriam knows the issues, she understands the damage that the developers have wreaked on this Town, I like her and trust her.
  
  
• Councillor Rob Harper, Rob is down to earth, knows what it is to be like to live on less than a Teachers' Pension all the time and still keeps his sense of humour. Besides the ONLY new idea that came from any of the candidates came from him, he's original and I like that.
  

• Councillor: Melissa Marshall, Melissa is the youngest and at 34 brings a perspective that might offend some of the "dead white male thinking" that prevails around the Council Chamber

Now in making this slate I realise that most of it will never come to pass (shades of Lloyd Williams - ed) but one can only hope and perhaps the list and the reasons behind each choice may give others the thought too.

A c omment about the red, white and blue!

Ben:

Thank you for your reference to this site (mclellan4trustee.com). It was exciting visually, but I don't think I could ever bring myself to vote for a person with a red, white and blue website with quite so many stars and stripes !

Amen

School Board trustee candidate blows his own horn

Read this and see a blinking ad that proclaims the Northumberland News has endorsed him. VOTE FOR ALLAN MCLELLAN FOR SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE Be wary Allan in 1991 the Northumberland News endorsed me for Mayor and look where that went!!

Kinky Friedman Falls Short In Bid For Governor

I was looking forward to an original thinker finally going somewhere - not anymore! Kinky Friedman Falls Short In Bid For Governor

Good news for the Progressives

Read this it's a summary of the election yesterday. My Way News - Resurgent Democrats Win Control of House

It's not just me!

Read this and you will find just who else is bothered by the use of electronics this year A New Breed of Watchdog For Election Day - WSJ.com.

"Democracy is not the voting, it is the counting!"

Angry voters in this story

Two stories about angry voters: one guy didn't want to vote the full slate and the other obviously did not like touchscreen voting machines here

And it's only just starting!

Here is the first of many reports about the voting machines.

And one in more depth