As someone who was born in British Columbia and
visited your great province a few years ago, I think it is great
that BC, through the Citizens' Assembly, is taking the initiative
in looking at different voting methods. Your conclusion will not
only have an impact on the citizens within your own province; it
will influence voting reform initiatives across Canada.
It would be great if British Columbia were one
giant 79 member constituency with voters making their ballot
choices based on the Single Transferable Vote [STV] system.
Unfortunately, the ballot would be too large and bewildering.
Voters would have no connection with any local member of the
Legislative Assembly.
If British Columbians want some form of
proportional voting system than maintains some form of local
constituency, I would either recommend an open-list system or
single transferable vote with three to seven members per
constituency. The urban constituencies would probably have six or
seven members while the rural ones would have three or
four.
An open-list system is easy for the parties and
voters to understand.
Within a multi-seat constituency, each party can
submit its list of candidates according to its order of
preference.
Multi-member constituencies would allow better
men and women to run for office who may normally be averse in
participating in a single-winner-take-all-system as is the case
now. These constituencies under an open-list system would also
ensure that no one ethnic or religious group (from either a
minority or majority community) could control all the positions
available.
Under the open-list system, when voters mark
their ballots on election day, they can either place an 'X' on a
party name or beside a particular party candidate.
The open-list system would be easy for those who
need to count the ballots.
Make the voting system fair, yet, keep it
simple.
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