The importance of Non Distortive Vote Tallying (NDVT) for the Health of Modern Democracies

In this video, I consider why it is important for democracy that a voting system truly reflects the majority vote. Systems such as the US Electoral College and the UK’s “First Past the Post” system are dangerously antiquated and need to be replaced as soon as possible. Leaving them in place opens the possibility that one day a really dangerous government could come to power on the back of a sizable minority vote and the distortive tallying of these flawed voting systems. I argue in this video that the idea these systems are not deeply problematic is based on the premise that given an obviously dangerous political party, or individual, the vast majority will recognise the candidate or party’s unsuitability for office and so will vote against them accordingly. However, recent and less recent early 20th century history demonstrate that this premise is utterly false. Although, I would argue that at the present time we can rely on a technical majority of individuals to reject an objectively destructive and dangerous political movement, this will only ever be a “technical majority”. In fact, there will always be a sizable minority who will support such a party no matter how bad their policies are for the general health of a nation. Given this stark reality, it is important we make sure that all voting systems that allow the possibility of a party coming to power via the votes of a minority are consigned to the dustbin of history or else, it is only a matter of time before one of these flawed vote tallying systems produces a government that has the potential to be every bit as bad as the one that plagued the world in the late 1930s.