A Facebook group is trying to pair up Canadians willing to swap votes to keep the Conservatives from winning seats in tight ridings.
About 1155 people have become members of the `Anti-Harper Vote Swap Canada' group since it was created Wednesday morning.
Organizer Mat Savelli says it's a formalized way of strategic voting so people can feel like their votes count.
The group uses as an example the riding of Winnipeg South.
The Liberals have a better chance of beating the Conservatives than the NDP do, so a New Democrat supporter could agree to vote Liberal in exchange for a die-hard Liberal voting NDP in rural Alberta, where the Liberals don't stand a chance.
The site states an example of how it would work:
Let's pretend I'm an NDP supporter in the riding of Winnipeg South. Seeing as the Tories only managed to beat the Liberals by less than 150 votes in the 2006 election, the Liberals almost surely have the best chance of winning. I send Mat (the admin) the following message:
- My riding is Winnipeg South
- I support the NDP
- I'm willing to vote Liberal to keep Harper out.
Marc Mayrand, Canada's chief electoral officer, said Friday that Elections Canada is investigating the legality of the online vote-swapping scheme.
The scheme may be nothing more than "organized strategic voting," Mayrand said in an interview.
But it may also fall afoul of the law, which prohibits people from selling their votes or accepting an incentive or material benefit for voting.
"Right now, we have very little information," Mayrand said.
"We need to look at it more closely to see whether there are any potential offences."
With files from the Canadian Press.
