|
|
Alberta Provincial Election 2012
Voter Migration Matrix
Election Forecaster
developed by
Prof. Werner Antweiler
|
Methodology:
Elections in Saskatchewan employ a "first-past-the-post" voting
system. Thus the prediction of the election result in terms of the
seats distribution in the provincial legislature is based
on a prediction of the election result in each constituency. The use
of a voter migration matrix reflects the notion that voters change
their opinion about candidates and parties in a similar way across the
entire province. That is, a party that gains or loses vote in one
constituency tends to gain or lose votes in other constituencies. In
the simplest form, this "swing" can be applied across all
constituencies.
Naturally, applying this simple
voter migration matrix to the election results from a previous
election is a simplistic way of forecasting the outcome of a forthcoming
election. It is simplistic in three ways. First, it does not reflect the
change in population. Some children have reached voting age, some
(mostly older) people have died, and other people have moved to Saskatchewan or
have moved away from Saskatchewan. Second, it does not reflect the possibility that
voters from the last election abstain in the forthcoming election, or
abstainers in the last election choose to vote in the forthcoming
election. Third, the voter migration matrix is applied identically
across all constituencies, thus ignoring important local factors. A
more sophisticated approach would take care of these three
problems.
©
2023 Sauder School of Business,
University of British Columbia. |
|