Here are two dozen scripts about pro rep, in roughly alphabetical order. Sorry, they aren’t in proper screenplay format! They’re public domain / CC0, so feel free to use them as-is or adapt them, or use them to stimulate ideas for new scripts. After the scripts, there are an additional baker’s dozen script ideas.
They mostly use readily available clothing, props and settings, nothing elaborate, no animation or fx, so no obstacles that way. They all use multiple actors because hey, voting is a group exercise! Many videos about modernizing our voting system have only a single talking person, and they’re BORING. So beg/cajole/coerce your friends to take part, or get other filmmakers to fill in as your actors. Remember: Groups of adults have more cred than a single actor, child actors, or cartoon characters.
Make ’em laugh or make ’em cry, humour or horror. Good luck!
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Script #1: Coffee
scene: group of people lounging
Person1, to one side, says
“Okay, so we’re all agreed then, we’re voting for our old voting system, first past the post, in this fall’s referendum.”
Person2, sitting
“Right, why fix it if it’s not broken.”
Person1, speaking rapidly,
“Well, it IS broken – wrong winners, vote splitting, lopsided legislatures, whole regions without representation, but never mind.
[standing]
Okay, I’m making a run to the coffee shop, what’s everyone want?”
Person2
“decaf”
Person3
“regular black”
Person4
“hot chocolate”
Person5
“regular with milk”
Person1
“And I want regular with milk too, so regular with milk has the most votes, I’ll get five regular with milk”
Person2
“Wait, that’s not what we wanted”
Person1
“Haha, well, you don’t get what you want with first past the post. It’s other name is single member PLURALITY voting because it’s winner-take-all.”
Person3
“Plurality. Is that like pleurisy? Pleurisy’s bad, man. My uncle died from it.”
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#2 Conservative voter
two very attractive persons sitting or preferably standing at a tall bare table
person stage left: What do you like about our old voting system?
person 2 camera left: I like stable government.
[has four child’s building blocks in front of them, stacked vertically, reading FPTP]
person 1 Great! Proportional Representation gives even more stable government and fewer policy flipflops.
[while saying this, quickly shoves the 4 building blocks aside with two pieces of 2x4x8 inches wood on top of each other with labels on the sides facing the camera saying ‘Proportional’ and ‘Representation’]
cut to the two persons again at bare table
person 2 says: I like our prosperity
[as places stack of money or coins in front of them]
person 1: Great! Proportional Representation gives greater economic growth and higher employment.
[says while placing more money on top of the pile]
cut to the two persons at table, the money’s gone, this time with 20 or 40 miniature figurines rented from a toy store standing up near the persons
person 2: I like our government to be accountable to us voters.
[says while grabbing and placing a bunch of 10 or 20 figurines forward on the table, closer to the camera]
person 1: Great! Our legislature is elected by and accountable to half the voters. With Proportional Representation a legislature is elected by and accountable to twice as many voters so it gives true majority rule.
[says while placing another 9 or 19 figurines forward of the remaining 10 or 20, leaving only 1 or 2 far from the camera]
person 2: Should we switch to Proportional Representation?
person 1: Four out of five modern countries already have. It’s our turn.
person 2: What is Proportional Representation anyway?
person 1: It’s simply giving voters what they voted for. If half the voters support one party they’ll get half the seats in the legislature.
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#3 Glum
Person1 on scene, Person2 approaches
Person1: Hey, why so glum?
Person2: I just voted.
Person1: So?
Person2: I voted for Jim to stop Bill getting in, but I really wanted to vote for Susan.
Person1: You won’t have to worry if we get proportional representation.
Person2: Why?
Person1: With pro rep, your vote will count. Whether you support Liberal, NDP or some other party your vote will help that party. Pro Rep puts the joy back into voting.
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#4 Families
Narrator: Well, there’s two families of voting systems in the world.
Family 1 spokesperson (wearing a large paper label pinned on saying ‘Family 1‘ like marathon racers do): “Votes should count, results should be fair.”
Family 2 spokesperson (wearing a label “Family 2” like marathon racers do): “Most votes should not count, so that one party can end up with all the power.”
Narrator: “Which family should we choose?”
Politician (with label pinned on saying “Politician“): “Hmm. Better do a study on that.”
Child: “That’s not fair!”
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#5 Horse races
Extremely elderly lady trotting across screen with a cane (possibly in front of projected
background of horse race running)
Announcer “Our voting system was invented centuries ago and named First-Past-The-Post, after
a horse race.”
Elderly person stops and says: “If it was good enough for my horse, it’s good enough for me!”
Scene shifts to split screens or series of video clips of modern stuff in action – computers, cell phones,
jet planes and modern vehicles, then maybe a montage of the flags of the 28 OECD countries that
use PR (List Prop. 23 + Mixed Member Proportional 4 + STV 1 = 28 at
http://lindaduncan.ndp.ca/sites/default/files/multisite/47259/field_content_files/urquhart_oecdco
untries.pdf )
Announcer “Most modern countries have upgraded to Proportional Representation voting.”
Elderly person: “What’s that?”
Announcer: “Proportional representation, or Pro Rep, is where voters get exactly what they wanted. If
voters give a political party forty percent of the vote, they get forty percent of the seats.”
Elderly person: “I want a horse.”
Announcer: “We’ll get you a nice pony. With a wagon to ride in. But remember, only if you vote
for Pro Rep.”
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#6 Ice Cream
30 second video:
Camera is located far back behind the counter of a cafe, looking out over the counter.
Five characters rush up to the counter, young adults of different races and sexes.
Actor #5 (on the right): Ice cream’s on me!
Actor #1 (on the left, in a wheel chair): Great! I’ll have vanilla!
Actor #2 (second from left): Strawberry for me!
Actor #3: Chocolate!
Actor #4: Chocolate!
Actor #5: And chocolate!
Actor #5 turns to unseen cafe staff behind the counter: Okay, that’ll be five chocolate ice creams!
camera close-ups:
Actor #4: But we wanted vanilla and strawberry.
Actor #5: Sorry, it’s BC voting, you know, first past the post, winner takes all!
Actor #4: But you COULD give us vanilla and strawberry.
Actor #5: Yes, I COULD, but if you don’t like chocolate I can eat yours.
Actor #1, in a Charles Dickens’ tiny Tim despairing voice: It’s not fair…
Unseen narrator, older charismatic voice: Don’t be Scrooge. Vote for fair voting this fall.
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#7 The Juggler
Two persons are walking past a juggler and stop to watch.
Person1: Hey, what IS proportional representation anyway?
Person2: It’s just giving voters what they voted for. It means if half the voters choose one party they get half the seats in the legislature, not three quarters.
Person1: That seems fair.
Person2: Yeah, it’s called fair voting and academics have proven it produces better government. Four out of five modern countries use it.
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#8 Investors
Scene opens with stock footage of a huge group of people (shareholders) in a massive conference room.
Voice-over:
Man 1 (deep, authoritative sounding/slow voice): How did they vote?
Man 2 (average, slightly obsequious/quick voice): 99% of shareholders in favour of dumping the Kinder-Morgan pipeline on Canadians, sir
Man 1: heh heh heh
Fade-out, warbly/bubbly sound effects, fade in to scene 2:
Left side of frame shows back view of a man (3) in a suit at a desk with a tiny Canadian flag on it, showing only his left shoulder and arm – no head – close up, and another man (4) in a shirt and tie facing him.
Man 4: How do Canadians wish to vote on buying the Kinder-Morgan pipeline, sir?
Man 3 (silently): -gives thumbs-up
Man 4: Thank you sir
Announcer (voice-over): Help keep our benevolent dictatorship, vote for First Past The Post in the referendum.
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#9 Marbles
Person 1 (with mouth full of marbles): making gargling sound in front of mirror
Person 2: What are you doing?!
Person 1 (with garbled, practically unintelligible voice): Proportional Representation!
Person 2: What??
Person 1 (garbled): Proportional Representation!
Person 2: What have you got in your mouth?
Person 1 (spits marbles out of mouth, speaks): I heard that if you practice saying something with a mouth full of marbles, you’ll be able to say it clearly. I’m giving a speech about how proportional representation will give us a better bunch of politicians, but it’s so hard to pronounce!
Person 2: Just call it pro rep buddy. Or PR.
Closing graphic.
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#10 The Old and The New
Announcer: Puzzled how to vote in the referendum? The choice is simple. You can vote for the old voting system-
Man in suit: Give me that candy! (snatches lollipop from baby in stroller, queue crying baby sound)
Announcer: Or, you can vote for the new, kinder, gentler voting system-
Group of people standing in a circle, alternate women and men, arms around each other’s shoulders, singing: Kumbaya my lord, kumbaya
Announcer, turning at 45 degrees from the camera, appearing to speak to someone off-screen: Do I have time to mention higher economic growth with pro rep? Better politicians, happier voters, more women elected, true majority rule, better regional representation, lower government debt, makes almost every vote count, gives almost every voter a preferred representative, better government on 16 of 17 measures, simpler voting, more stable government(sound fading off)
Closing image
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#11 Scary
camera fairly far back from two people
background: silent film of old public domain horror movie
person 1: It’s pretty scary what I’ve heard about the BC referendum this November.
background changes to slips of paper being dropped into a waste basket as person 2 says:
person 2: That’s right, it’s pretty scary that our old voting system throws away half the votes,
background changes to CC0 video of Donald Trump as person 2 continues:
person 2: and often makes one politician almost a dictator based on less than half the public’s support.
[background changes to graphic of voting box as person 2 continues:]
That’s why the government is holding a referendum this fall. It wants us to upgrade to a modern voting system with proportional representation.
person 1: What’s proportional representation?
person 2: It means we get what we voted for. So if half the voters support one party, they get half the seats in the legislature, not three-quarters.
person 1: What’s it good for?
person 2: It usually produces a more cooperative government with higher economic growth, higher employment, less government debt, and more stable government policy on things like the environment.
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#12 The Beach
Two attractive people on a sandy beach, sunbathing in swim suits, one reading a newspaper:
Person 1: How do you pronounce pro-por-tion-al rep-re-sen-ta-tion?
Person 2: Pro rep.
Person 1: What IS it?
Person 2: It’s just modern voting. Our old voting system kinda broke when three political parties got elected. Pro rep’s like everybody getting ice cream.
Person 3 walks by their feet, carrying an ice cream cone, looks sideways and smiles at them, trips over something unseen, and does a face plant.
Person 2: Well, not everybody, but almost everybody.
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#13 The Filmmaker
Producer (woman with clipboard) and Actor stand on-stage.
Producer: Okay people, we’re going to improv Neil Patel’s “HOW to Create The PERFECT Call-to-Action”. [walks off-screen while saying:] Number one is SELLING a try-out. Roll film!
Actor: Vote for proportional representation, we’ll try it for two elections, and I’ll give you a million dollars!
Producer (walks on- and then off-screen while waving hands and saying): Cut! You can’t say that! Try tactic number two, “offer a benefit”
Actor: Proportional representation will wash your dishes, babysit your kids and make sweet love to your husband!
Producer: Stop! All pro rep does is things like higher economic growth, more stable government, and better representation of the rural areas.
Actor: That’s pretty dull.
Producer: I know, let’s try to juice it up. Try tactic number three, “Instant Gratification”
Actor: Vote for proportional representation and feel GOOOOOD about supporting fair voting!
Producer: Not bad. Number four, “Evoke Curiosity”
Actor: Wondering what the referendum’s all about? Check out Fair Voting BC!
Producer: Boring. Tactic #5- Aggravate the Problem, Then Offer the Solution
Actor: Is your vote ALWAYS wasted because you ALWAYS vote for a loser? Or maybe wasted because you always vote for a WINNER but you live in a safe riding where the winner doesn’t NEED your vote? Make sure your vote always counts: vote for proportional representation.
Producer: Good, good. Try tactic #6, Following the crowd
Actor: Join the 70% of British Columbians who support proportional representation! Vote for pro rep!
Producer: Nah, percentages suck. Tactic #7- use a cliffhanger
Actor: Who will win the referendum? What if it’s a tie vote? You’ll be kicking yourself if you don’t vote. Vote!
Producer: Tactic #8: Offer a freebie
Actor: You get to vote for free! The envelope has a stamp and everything! When you get your ballot in the mail, vote!
Producer (off-screen, while closing image displays: Share today!): That’s a wrap
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#14 The Guru
Setting requires a raised surface to serve as a simulated mountaintop: a stage, hilltop or else a couple of folding tables, with a background of white, or green screen, or preferably sky; with the camera a few feet back from the edge of the surface and lined up at ‘mountaintop level’ so the bottom of the frame is at surface level.
A person dressed in plain robes is sitting cross-legged, looking like a guru, facing slightly oblique to the camera, with the mountaintop they are sitting on barely visible at the bottom of the frame.
Just in front of the camera, an arm rises up quickly into view and flops onto the simulated mountaintop, then the other arm, then a head appears, the climber throws one leg up onto the surface, clambers up onto the surface, sits facing the guru and asks the guru:
Climber (wearing coil of rope): “Oh great guru, what is the secret of happiness? Some say it’s 42, others say it’s union with the divine. What do you say?
Guru: “The secret is proportional representation
Climber: “What’s that?
Guru: “That’s where every vote is equal, every vote is effective, and there is accountability to every voter.
Climber: “Wow
Third person walks into the scene, says: “Guys, there’s no secret about proportional representation. It’s just the modern form of voting that most modern countries use nowadays.
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#15 The King
Scene 1: Use title overlay at top of frame for this scene: “First-Past-The-Post”
A crowd of about 14 people stands in foreground, back to camera, and facing them and the camera is a leader, Person1. (All standing – preferable to sitting, as more energetic.)
Camera looks down a bit, elevated enough for clear view of leader beyond the crowd.
Person1, wearing mock crown and holding a staff rod: “Fellow MLAs, welcome to the Legislature. I am the party leader. I control your nomination. I can boot you from the party. You must obey me.”
Crowd chants while bowing: “Yes, O master, yes, O master.”
Scene 2: Title overlay at top of frame for this scene: “Proportional Representation”
Three leaders stand facing camera, elbow to elbow, in front of a foreground crowd:
Leader1: “We’ve been debating the bill for a week.”
Leader2: “Let’s call the vote.”
Leader3: “Those in favour”
(most hands go up in the crowd)
Leader3: “Those opposed”
(a few hands go up in the crowd)
Graphic overlay: “FPTP vs Pro Rep – the difference is clear”
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#16 The Legislature
This would require historical public domain stock footage, perhaps from an old movie, of a very large crowd of actors enacting some sort of frenzied legislative mobs (ideal would be voting in unison while shouting down any dissidents.)
Fade from that to a female narrator who says: “Maria Dobrinskaya said July 18th 2018
‘… MLAs’ primary loyalty is to their leader and party, especially for those serving in the governing caucus. … Out of more than 8,000 individual votes cast in our last legislature, only five went against party lines. So much for independent thinking.’ …”
Narrator concludes: That’s why we need a modern electoral system.
________________________________________
[Notes: Maria’s quote refers to individual MLAs voting over 8,500 times. Looked at another way, no-one in any party voted against their own party’s line in 98.2% of the things that came up for a vote in the legislature.]
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#17 Wilkinson
Man – wearing 50s checkered suit, super wide tie, toupie wig with hair flying out to the sides
He says: Hi, I’m Andrew Wilkinson, and I’ve just been elected leader of the BC Liberal Party! I’m going to smash proportional representation in this year’s referendum. Why, you ask? Well, I was elected leader of the party using our good ol’ voting system, first past the post. If first past the post is good enough for the BC Liberal Party, it’s good enough for British Columbia!
Woman walks into frame, says:
Wait, you’re not Andrew Wilkinson and the BC Liberal Party didn’t use BC’s old voting system, first past the post.
Man: Yes it did.
Woman: No, it didn’t. Under first past the post, a woman was the winner on the first round, not Andrew Wilkinson.
Man: I’m on a mission! Proportional Representation will destroy BC! Save first past the post!
Woman: If you believed that, you’d resign and let the woman who defeated you on the first round take over. You just want to be dictator based on 40% of the votes.
Man: Yes! Yes! I should be!
Woman: PR means true majority rule. PR will attract more women to the legislature.
Man: I told you it would destroy the province.
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#18 The Clown
Narrator: Our old voting system, First-Past-The-Post, was invented when most people thought the earth was flat. It still works okay where there are no political parties and only two candidates running for office. Unfortunately, nowadays it often produces perverse results. It’s the only voting system that allows a minority of voters to elect a majority of MLAs, a false majority.
Scene: two small groups of people, the first a bit smaller than the second.
Announcer with mic says to first group, who are looking happy and cheering and whooping it up: “And who are you?”
Member of group replies “We voted for the winner in our riding! We’re so pleased with our representative!”
Announcer moves to second, slightly larger group, who are looking glum, and asks “And who are you?”
Member of second group replies “We’re the orphans. We got out and voted but we didn’t get a representative who shares our views. That’s just the way it is.”
Announcer “It doesn’t have to be that way! You need proportionl representation! With PR everyone gets a representative of their favourite party!”
Clown runs by carrying an ax.
Announcer: “Well, almost everyone. Not the clowns with axes.”
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#19 The Police
Two guys, the first standing house right (stage left) and the second sitting house left (stage right):
As film opens, First guy, wearing police uniform (or at least a police hat or helmet) and brandishing a foam Nerf bat, is beating Second guy over the head.
Second Guy, shouting: Ow, ow, stop hitting me Officer!
First Guy: You’re a criminal!
Second: What did I do?
First: You didn’t vote!
Second: That’s not a crime!
First, assertively: It is in Australia!
Second, plaintively: We’re not in Australia, this is BC!
First, fairly aggressively: Why didn’t you vote?
Second: Because my vote wouldn’t make any difference.
First: You shouldn’t vote for losers!
Second: Actually I would’ve voted for the winner, but more votes make no difference.
First: You need proportional representation! With Pro Rep almost all votes help to elect someone!
Second: Wow, really?
First: Yep, that’s what proportional representation IS!
closing text on-screen: [“Pro Rep” in slightly larger text, the rest of the text in slightly brighter colours]:
Pro Rep
MAKING
VOTES
COUNT
SHARE FOR DEMOCRACY
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#20 The Sad Voter
image for video button/ad: close-up of crying face
video:
Have blurry sound bubble intro indicating a dream sequence
then Person 1: crying hysterically
Person 2: What’s the matter?
Person 1: I didn’t bother to vote in the referendum on fair voting. I thought it was a no-brainer, that it would pass for sure. I can’t believe it didn’t pass.
-sound bubble coming out of dream to awake state of guy lying in bed
Narrator/Person 3: Don’t let this happen to you! Get out to your local polling station and vote in the BC referendum on fair voting!
Person 4: Walks into frame. Says: Uh, actually it’s a mail-in ballot, you just have to walk to the nearest mailbox.
Narrator/Person 3: A mailbox you say. Is that in my inbox?
Person 4: No, it’s a red metal box on the street corner. Just take your paper ballot there and mail it, no postage needed.
Narrator/Person 3: What if I didn’t receive a ballot in the mail?
Person 4: Ask for one at elections dot B C dot C A
Narrator/Person 3: And remember to lick the envelope!
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#21 The Onion
Scene – Average-looking man sitting at table
Woman, screen right, reaches over and lays onion in front of him on his right side, says:
“The onion is our old voting system, first past the post.”
She then does the same, laying an apple in front of him on his left side (her near side), says:
“The apple is proportional representation voting.”
Man says: “I’m sticking with first past the post.”
[Eats onion, slowly; tears fall.]
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#22 The Pie
Man, dressed in suit and tie, says: “Our good ol’ first past the post voting system is best, because we can form government with 40% of the vote. All the other 60% of voters are idiots.”
Woman appears, throws whipped cream pie in his face.
When it falls off, man says: “I shouldn’t have said that out loud.”
[uses aluminum pie plate and spray can of whipping cream or shaving lotion; beware of injury or dry cleaning costs]
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#23 Toilet Paper
Man1, house left (stage right), says: “You guys are crazy, nobody wants fair voting.”
Person2, house right (stage left) among a group of people, says in moderate-paced warm confident voice: “Actually, a lot of people are starting to want proportional representation because it makes everyone’s vote count.”
Man1: “C’mon, fairness in politics is nuts. Next thing you’ll be talking about
[hoser voice:] “gender equality” ”
Person2: “Actually, more women are attracted to run for office with proportional representation because it encourages slightly more civil legislatures.”
Man1: “Civility has no place in politics!”
Person2: “You know our old voting system is called first past the post, or FPTP for short? But I just shorten it to TP, because most modern countries have gotten rid of it, they’ve, uh, defecated it.”
[while he/she is saying this, members of the group are throwing/spinning rolls of toilet paper high in the air, passing over Man1, leaving him draped in strands of TP while he stands still]
Person2: “Do you know what first past the post is called in French?”
Man1: “No”
Person2: “système majoritaire uninominal à un tour, for which the acronym is smut”
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#24 The Walker
Man #1 is Gruff bearded older man dressed in super heavy duty winter clothing and headgear, with a walking stick, who strides up to an exterior office building door labelled “MLA”, knocks forcefully on it, and steps back a bit.
Door opens by Man #2, who says: “Hello?”
Man #1: “I’ve walked a thousand miles, that’s sixteen hundred and nine point three four kilometres to find an MLA.”
Man #2: “Why didn’t you go to your LOCAL MLA?”
Man #1: “They don’t share my views.”
Man #2: “You need proportional representation. With Pro Rep everyone gets an MLA who shares their views. Well, almost everyone.”
graphic:
PRO REP:
(ALMOST)
EVERY
VOTER
REPRESENTED
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Here are some less developed ideas that you might want to work into a script:
#25 FAILURE TO LAUNCH
Picture three middle-aged people sitting on a couch beside a very elderly couple, all of them staring ahead as if watching TV: One of the middle-aged looks over at the elderly couple and says “There are three of us, we should be in charge.” The elderly man returns the look and says “This is a first past the post house, not true majority rule” and turns back to staring ahead. Cuts to shot of poster saying “PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION TRUE MAJORITY RULE VotingBC.CA CC0”.
#26 THE WEIRD BALLOT BOX
Imagine the conversation that would occur when a voter arrives at a polling station and encounters this ballot box: It’s shaped like an upside-down Y and the side visible to the camera is covered in Plexiglas or stretch wrap, so the ballots can be seen as they are dropped in. As ballots flutter down from the entry slot at the top, they randomly fall to one side or the other at the division towards the bottom. At the bottom, one side is a box labelled “votes” and the other side is a waste basket. The voter naturally asks what is going on with this new style of ballot box because it looks like half the ballots are going in a waste basket. The polling clerk replies that the government decided to honour its pledge for more transparency in government, and half the votes are wasted under first past the post. Then an announcer steps in front of the camera and explains, this is not exactly how half the votes are wasted under first past the post, but half the votes are indeed truly wasted, and this disrespect of voters is removed with modern voting systems like pro rep, resulting in the election of more successful governments.
#27 THE DOG ATE IT
A person theorizes that since half the votes seem to disappear under first past the post, maybe pet dogs are eating them and should be destroyed for the sake of democracy. Their friend explains that no, it’s not the dogs.
#28 THE GUITAR PLAYER
Sings:
PR will destroy BC,
burn down the forests and
drown all the babies,
PR will ruin BC
Another person walks in, says “Uh, actually proportional representation [rapidly rhymes off a list of benefits]”
#29 THE VETERAN
An elderly guy in a WWI soldier uniform carrying a firearm arrives saying “We’ve got to stop the radicals who want to destroy our voting system! Proportional Representation will ruin the province! There’ll be chaos!”
Middle-aged person walks into scene wearing a suit, says: “Actually, the problem is with the old voting system – wasted votes, strategic voting and misrepresentation of our population.”
Elderly guy: “Say what?”
Middle-aged person: “Proportional representation simply means modern voting so everyone’s vote counts and we get true majority control of the legislature.”
#30 GOING TO VOTE
Two guys are sitting at a table with beers. One proposes they should go vote. The other responds “You know this is a safe riding? The party could run a fence post here and it would win. Your vote won’t make any difference no matter who you vote for.” Other guys responds “Guess we might as well stay home.” [they both joyfully raise their beer cans in a toast to each other] Announcer walks in front of camera, says “Make your vote count, now and for years to come. Vote yes to proportional representation.”
#31 THE TV INTERVIEW
Interviewer with mic: “And you are campaigning for proportional representation because?”
Interviewee in sports jacket: “For the sex”
Lady Assistant with clipboard steps forward, leans over, whispers in interviewee’s ear for about 5 seconds, backs off a bit.
Interviewee looks back toward Interviewer, says: “Ah, because of gender inequality. With proportional representation more women get elected and legislatures are more civilized.”
Close shot of Lady with clipboard grinning. Then medium shot as she pats Interviewee on the back.
text overlaid on screen: Vote YES to Proportional Representation CC0
#32 THE TRIAL
Put first-past-the-post on trial for all its faults, based on e.g. Andrew Coyne’s list of its most serious faults https://youtu.be/Yzcx-6gdaV0
#33 THE DICTATOR
Have several people play-act two different types of decision-making to illustrate how with first-past-the-post you get one dictator premier in charge who can do whatever they want, like this: https://www.facebook.com/YourEdm/videos/1693756264065389 while with proportional representation, you get two or three leaders who have to consult and compromise with each other, producing more innovative ideas yet giving more cautious and sensible leadership.
#34 JIM CARREY MEME
Have woman standing and holding a long scroll, reading off it the faults of first-past-the-post; fades out. Fades in: Man holding their hands tightly over their ears, saying in sing-songy voice “LA-LA-LA-LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU” fades out. Announcer: “Always listen to your wife. Vote proportional representation.”
#35 TEETER TOTTER
A large group of people on one end of teeter totter are up in the air wriggling and trying to get it to come down, while a notably smaller group of people are on the other end, on the ground! Camera zooms in to show they are being held down by a chain labelled “FPTP”. Announcer says: “With first past the post, 39% is enough to overpower the true majority. Vote Proportional Representation.”
#36 INFORMED VOTERS
Announcer: “We take you back in history, far, far back, all the way to early 2018.”
First person, reading newspaper: “Um, says here the BC Liberal Party is using a proportional and preferential voting system to rank their leadership candidates. Candidate Mike de Jong said there’s no question the contest will be decided on the basis of second choices making him optimistic about his chances. Aren’t the BC Liberals the ones who said BC would be destroyed if we stopped using first past the post voting? How come they’re not using it themselves?”
Second person, laughing: “They want first past the post for the rest of us so they can get complete control with just 39% of the vote again.”
Announcer: “What happened in the end, you ask? Andrew Wilkinson won the leadership, but would have failed to win if they had used first past the post voting. So…it’s pretty ironic that he’s now championing it as good enough for the rest of us to use.”
#37 THE CLASSROOM
Teacher points to whiteboard and says “Okay class, today’s lesson has been on How to Vote in BC’s Referendum on the Voting System. We learned that our old voting system, first past the post, was recommended by who? Jimmy?”
Jimmy: “The British Colonial Office, 151 years ago”
Teacher: “Right, and proportional representation voting was recommended by who? Susan?”
Susan: “The British Columbia government’s Citizen Assembly on Electoral Reform 14 years ago.”
Teacher: “Right, so which are you going to vote for then, Susan?”
Susan: “First past the post, I like old stuff.”
Teacher: “Right then, you like the tried and true voting system, so you don’t get to vote.”
Susan: “What do you mean?!”
Teacher: “The original first past the post was just for male landowners, so you don’t qualify to vote if you want to stick with tradition.”
Announcer voiceover: “First past the post. The hot new voting system…a couple of centuries ago.”
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