Of 907,741 votes cast in the last provincial election, 389,939 votes accomplished nothing. That's 43%. If we dealt with people's Alberta Income Taxes the way we deal with people's votes, we'd be putting $3,146,740,000 down a toilet every year.That's a big number. Let's put it in perspective. Consider a machine, which shreds $100 bills at a rate of one every second. Now run that machine for one year, solid.I know, it's ludicrous. So ludicrous that it must be an unfair comparison. You might think, "Yeah, but votes aren't worth as much as taxes."How can that be true, though? Votes set the taxes.And they do so much more. They decide how often your road gets scraped in the winter (or April, as the case may be). They decide what will be legal and illegal. They decide what your kids can study at school, and how much will have to be paid for the privilege. They decide the help your parents will get when they get old. They decide how long the fireworks will be on Canada Day. They decide wars.Votes are priceless. But we're treating them as if they were worthless.That has got to change.That's why I've joined Fair Vote Canada, which call for increased proportionality in our electoral systems. Increased proportionality means more votes matter, every time, all the time.I'm looking forward to helping them make that happen.And I'm looking forward to blogging about it.