Is having a 5% party vote threshold outdated thinking?

On Monday's show, Bryce Edwards from The Democracy Project joined us to discuss The Opportunity Party. He said one of the biggest challenges smaller parties face is the 'wasted vote' trap. Under New Zealand's electoral system, a party must win at least 5% of the party vote to gain list seats in Parliament. That means voters can be reluctant to back smaller parties because, if they miss the threshold, those votes don't translate into representation. The Electoral Commission recommended lowering the threshold to 4% in 2012 to help address the problem. But Ed Hitchcock, the man behind the On the Threshold website, has a very different solution. [picture id="4JOLCP4_Ed_Hitchcock_jpg" crop="16x10" layout="full"]