Voting is supposed to be about citizens choosing their government, but the upcoming federal election has underscored how Canada’s electoral system inhibits voters from making independent, meaningful choices.

Dislike of the Conservative Party has led many Canadians to feel they must “vote strategically” in this election — vote for the candidate in their riding most likely to defeat the Conservative candidate, even if that candidate is not personally their first choice.

Take the familiar example of the Saskatoon-University riding. Polls suggest a close race between the NDP and Conservative candidates. Thus, many Liberal, Green and other party supporters feel obligated to vote for the NDP candidate as the lesser of two evils.

Entire organizations have been set up to inform voters across Canada which left-leaning candidate they should vote for in their riding in order to topple the Conservatives.

Regardless of one’s own party affiliation, having voters choose a candidate that is not their first preference is a systemic flaw warping Canada’s democracy. The logical conclusion of strategic voting within the current system is that although Canada may remain a multi-party system nationally, many ridings will become two-party races.

Citizens will feel increasingly obligated to vote either for the current candidate in power — if they like the current government, or the next-leading candidate, if they dislike the current government — rather than “throwing away their vote” by voting for a third party.

If democracies are ultimately about citizens choosing the government they think will serve best, but Canadian voters are voting for candidates they consider inferior, something about the system is broken.

Not only does the current electoral system force Canadians to vote for candidates they may not support, but the system makes voting a far less independent affair. Increasingly, whoever one chooses to vote for is affected by other citizen’s votes in the same riding. Canadians in close ridings are turning to polling information to see who stands a chance of winning in their riding, to ensure their vote isn’t “wasted.”

The influence of others on one’s vote presents several problems. In a theoretical sense, voting is supposed to be a personal choice about which option is best — even if that view is unpopular.

If voters are being influenced by polling data, those voters are being coerced into voting in a way that is popular. This violates a core principle of what voting should be about. While debate and discussion is healthy for democracy, feeling obligated to vote for popular candidates is not.

This loss of independence presents another issue: if multitudes of people are voting strategically, views that may actually be popular fail to become visible in voting patterns. Perhaps there are a large enough number of Liberal supporters in Saskatoon-University to win the riding, but if they feel obligated to support the NDP based on polling, their true views go unexpressed.

Potentially more dangerous, more and more Canadians are turning towards polls and services that inform citizens who to vote for if they want to vote strategically. This is dangerous because voters may take the information at face value and incorrectly assume that this data is always unbiased. This grants the providers of these services a great deal of power to influence elections by essentially telling voters who to vote for.

Another problem with the current system is the lack of ability for voters to express preference through their ballot. If I think that several candidates are equally preferable and one is terrible, my vote should somehow reflect this view. Ultimately, voting is the only way citizens affect the composition of our government, and votes should be more representative of what citizens actually want and think.

I don’t blame anyone who plans on voting strategically, nor am I attempting to discourage strategic voting. I sympathize with such voters, as I strongly agree that a change in government is needed.

Rather, this election highlights a systemic issue that must be addressed by reforming Canada’s electoral system. Reform will not be easy, as the party holding power is typically not inclined to reform the voting system. But if we neglect this issue, the problem will continue to resurface election after election. Until changes are made, the existing system will continue to rob Canadians of an independent, reflective right to choose.