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Originally Posted by J.OT13
Jim has a good point when he says that, when it comes to municipal elections, people don't really know all the candidates.
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Preferential voting gives the voter an incentive to learn more about everyone on the ballot, then. It also gives the candidates a strong incentive to introduce themselves to a wider swath of voters. A right-wing candidate now would focus on getting votes in a conservative suburban area; a left-wing candidate might concentrate on rental apartments. A preferential system, with more than two names in the race, forces them to broaden their coalition and appeal to people who already support another candidate as their ideal choice.
I can already foresee Candidate Mary's canvassers working a neighbourhood, ID'ing those households with Candidate Bob's signs on their lawns, making custom pitches to Bob supporters to put Mary as their second choice. This is a good thing.
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Usually you have one, two, maybe three credible people, and all of them may have very different ideas that may or may not match your personal vision for the city. Then you have a whole bunch of people who, although have good intentions, aren't necessarily credible (or in some cases nut-cases). So ranked ballots aren't a great solution for municipal elections.
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If Jim Watson, or you, or Bob in Kanata, don't want to use up all the rankings available to you in a preferential ballot, then don't. Just be aware that, should your first and only choice drop off, that you have cast what they call in Australia an "informal" ballot, and you have voluntarily given up your votes beyond that first choice.
Hundreds of thousands (potentially a few millions) of Canadians have cast preferential ballots in the past few decades as federal and provincial parties have opened up their leadership and candidate nomination processes to a wider group. There have been 10s of thousands of votes cast in AB provincial party leaderships, about 25,000 in the NL Liberal leadership a couple years ago, 100,000ish in the federal Liberal leadership in 2013, a similar number to select delegates in the 2006 Liberal leadersip, 10s of thousands in the old PC and CA leaderships of the early 2000s and the post-merger leadership race that elected Harper, 10s of thousands in the NDP leadership that elected Mulcair, and hundreds, if not thousands, of federal and provincial electoral district candidate nominations. The concept of preferential balloting is not only NOT foreign or strange in Canada, it is very, very familiar.
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Case and point: just look at the last election. My first choice was Watson, and then... no one. McGuire was the second most credible candidate but had very little vision. I had no second choice.
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So... don't cast a second- or subsequent-choice preference. Imaginary problem: solved.
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On the other hand, federally and provincially, we have the party system. We all know what the Liberals, NDP, Green and Conservatives stand for. All candidates are the same save for a few local issues. If you vote Liberal, chances are your number 2 choice is NDP, then maybe Green, Conservative... So ranked ballot could work well on those levels.
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As they already do when those parties choose their leaders and nominate their local candidates.
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