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STV more proportional, group told
B.C. voters get another chance at electoral reform question on May 12

No electoral system is perfect, but the single transferable vote (STV) system that’s being offered to people in B.C. would provide more proportionality and result in more people seeing at least one of their preferred candidates elected.

And when it comes to voting, the B.C. STV system isn’t as complicated as you might think.

Those were some of the points highlighted at a small gathering organized by Whistler Watch last Wednesday (April 15) designed to give voters more information on the STV proposal. About a dozen people attended the informal session.

Two volunteers who were involved in the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform — a group of 160 ordinary British Columbians who worked for almost a year starting in 2004 to recommend a new electoral system for B.C. — came from Vancouver to make a presentation and answer questions. Sara Jennings of Whistler Watch said representatives from the “no” side of the STV debate were invited to speak at the session but they said nobody was available.

“We’re not here to tell you to vote for (STV),” said Ken Nielsen, one of the presenters. “We’re just here to tell you to vote and to answer your questions before the vote.”

He said he’s pro-STV and the STV system is the one the Citizens’ Assembly is recommending to its fellow voters in B.C., but he and co-presenter Arlene Tully encouraged people to get informed and listen to the “vote no” side as well.

The B.C. STV system was first offered to B.C. voters in the 2005 provincial election as a referendum question. While almost 58 per cent voted in favour of adopting the new electoral system, the 60 per cent threshold set by the government wasn’t achieved.

Voters will see the referendum question again on their provincial ballots on May 12.

“I think it’s a pretty powerful thing to have thrown at us to decide,” Jennings said.

Under the current “first past the post” electoral system, parties can be elected to majority governments with only about half the popular vote. Nielsen gave the example of the 2001 B.C. election when the Liberals got 77 out of 79 seats but only received about 57 per cent of the popular vote.

“It’s not very proportional, our current system,” he said.

Others, such as the Green Party, can get up to 30 per cent of the vote and still win no seats, Nielsen said. This leads to strategic voting at the polls and results in low voter turnout, he argued.

“That’s a real shame when you can’t actually vote what you want to vote,” he said.

Under the proposed B.C. STV system, people would still elect 85 MLAs, but instead of one representative per riding, the province would be divided into 20 areas that would elect several representatives.

On election day, voters would rank their choices in order of preference instead of selecting just one candidate. You can rank as many or as few candidates as you choose.

If your top choice isn’t elected or receives more votes than he/she needs to get elected, the second-choice vote on your ballot can be counted towards that candidate’s total. Under STV, more than 80 per cent of the votes cast go toward electing someone, compared to the last B.C. election, when only 51.3 per cent of the votes elected anyone, Nielsen wrote in an email after the Whistler session.

Though one attendee pointed out that the larger ridings will result in many MLAs being farther away from constituents, Nielsen said having more than one MLA to serve constituents will result in more accountability and cooperation among elected representatives — even if more communication has to be done by phone and email.

The STV system will also lead to more minority or coalition governments.

Visit www.stv.ca and www.nostv.org to learn more about both sides of the argument before voting day on May 12.

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