The philosophy of toleration and the Irish voting system

These two subjects may seem to have no relevance to each other. But the philosophy of toleration may give a different way of looking at how to vote in Irish elections.

Voting in Ireland

Irish elections use the Single Transferable Vote system, a form of PR. For those who need an explanation, in STV the ballot paper lists the names of names of candidates in alphabetical order, and you vote by writing “1” opposite your first choice candidate, “2” opposite your second choice, and so on. You can vote for as many candidates as you wish (just one or put a unique number beside every candidate. When counting is done, the quota is calculated (the number of votes required to be elected based on valid votes cast). Then the count sees if any candidate has reached that level based on number of number ones. If yes, they are elected and their surplus votes (the amount over the quota) are distributed based on second preferences. If not, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated and their votes distributed based on their number two preference. The count continues in rounds in this way until all the seats are filled. ¹

This leaves the question, how far down the ballot paper to go? Should you vote only for the people you really really want to see in power? This is where the concept of toleration might help.

Toleration

To say you tolerate something or someone is to say you can put up with them. That sounds simple enough, but it leads to a lot of questions. What should you tolerate? Should you tolerate absolutely anything? Where do you draw the line?

The philosopher Preston King in his book Toleration² there is argued that there are in fact two lines to be drawn. The first is between what we like and what we object to. If we book a room in a hotel, we might prefer to be upgraded to a suite, but are content with a normal room. Yet we might object to a room with a tiny window, or a damp dirty room.

The second line is between acceptance and rejection. In the example above, if the choice is between the room with a tiny window and no room, we will probably decide to accept the tiny windowed room. It is better than nothing. But we might insist that the damp dirty room is completely unacceptable.

Vote

The point of STV is to minimise the number of “lost votes”: votes that fail to go towards electing a candidate. When first used in Sligo in January 1919, The Irish Times hailed it as “the Magna Charta of political and municipal minorities”³. The fewer candidates you vote for, the more likely it is for your vote to be lost though inability to transfer.

When voting, there are not two categories: those we want to win and those we do not. There are three: those we want to win, those that we could live with, and those that are completely unacceptable to us. In STV, even a low preference can alter who gets elected. The theory of toleration suggests you should vote for those in the first two groups, even if you have to hold your nose, if the those in the third are truly unacceptable to you.

References

Featured Image: William Murphy/Flickr, CC-BY-SA 2.0