Many Canadians are faced with a dilemma: They don’t like Stephen Harper but who do they vote for? The candidate they like the best or the candidate with the best chance to win? Well now you can have your cake and eat it too. A new Facebook group called Anti-Harper Vote Swap Canada will allow you to trade your vote with someone in another riding. So if you’re in a riding where the Liberals and Conservatives are neck and neck and you want to vote NDP you can trade your vote with a Liberal in a different riding where the NDP and the Conservatives are neck and neck. The end result? Ideally it means the Liberals pick up a seat, and the NDP picks up a seat and the Conservatives lose two seats (with both parties gaining a seat on the Tories). Or in the words of the groups founder, Mat Savelli:
“The concept of the vote swap is simple: in a completely legal fashion, it allows voters in different ridings to swap votes to best ensure the Conservatives don’t win. Let’s say your preferred candidate has no chance to win your riding. You can swap that vote out with someone else in the group so that you can vote for the party that has the best chance to stop the Conservatives from winning the seat. This allows you to vote for your party of preference (and thus keep smaller parties alive) while doing your best to keep the Tories out of power.”