So you got out there, took the ballot in hand and did the right thing.
But did your vote count?
Chances are, if you didn’t vote in lock step with the majority of people who live around you it didn’t.
This is not a question of ‘hanging chads,’ miscounts, or electoral fraud, but rather a flawed and antiquated system of parliamentary democracy known as ‘first past the post.’
Simply put, ‘first past the post’ means that if you voted for candidate A, and candidate B won in your riding, your vote didn’t help get candidate A, or even Party A into the house of commons. The term popular vote certainly makes for great conversation but the fact is, the popular vote doesn’t make a darn bit of difference in the overall outcome of an election under the first past the post system.
In practical terms, this means that if you voted for the Green Party in a Qu
