Strategic voting

So,

I’m finding this website very interesting.

Basically an Anyone But Conservative site it attempts to advocate for strategic voting, under the guise of promoting environmental issues, in ridings where the race is close enough that Conservative candidates can be defeated.

Quickly plugging in my postal code revealed that my riding is evidently a lock for our NDP candidate and therefore I’m encouraged to ‘vote with my heart’.

All of which raises some very interesting questions.

How many people currently vote with their hearts and how many already vote strategically? If you’re a dyed in the wool NDP supporter, but feel you have a chance at stopping a Conservative candidate from being elected by voting Liberal, do you do so?

How flexible is your political ideology?

I wonder if this site also has the unintended side effect of discouraging voting. If I see that the NDP is almost guaranteed to win my riding, why vote at all? If I’m against the NDP clearly my vote won’t make much of a difference and if I’m pro-NDP I don’t need to worry because, apparently, we already have this one in the bag. There may be better ways to spend my time on election night, like going home and reading my new comic book purchases.

You should vote in support of something you whole heartedly believe, as opposed to voting out of fear and making deals with the devil.

But, lets be honest here, political ideology changes. There are four national parties that are politically left of centre to one degree or another (yes I’m including the Greens and Bloc here) and only one party that has staked out a claim to the right of the centre. Which means, between these four parties, there is clearly some sort of common ideological ground that voters might be able to relate to. It could mean holding your nose when you mark the X on your ballot. But, to you, a little principled slippage may be a small price to pay for keeping the Conservatives in check.

Since my riding is considered to be locked these aren’t really questions that I have to seriously ask myself. I have the luxury of voting how I want...secure in the knowledge that unless I'm voting NDP it may not be worth a damn. But what about those living in swing ridings, what’s going through their minds?