Commentary by Nick Loenen

British Columbia’s Proposed Voting System: How it Works

By NICK LOENEN

[The following article by Nick Loenen, who has written extensively on voting systems, appeared in The Vancouver Sun on Tuesday 26 October 2004.]

For nearly a year, 160 British Columbians deliberated to find the best voting system to elect MLAs. Now it is up to the voters. On May 17 next you’ll be asked to choose between what we have and the new B.C. proposal. What is it, and how does it work?

Existing ridings will be grouped into super-ridings returning from seven to two MLAs each, depending on population density. For example, Surrey, which currently has seven single-seat ridings, might become one seven-seat riding.

The new system promises to make local representation more effective. This is evident when seen from a candidate’s perspective and then from the voter's perspective.

Suppose you wish to be elected in Surrey. You will need one-eighth of all votes cast. In the last election that would have been 16,100 votes. Since each voter has one vote, a successful candidate must find 16,100 persons to support her. You don’t need more, because surplus votes will transfer to other candidates.

There are two ways to find the number of votes needed.

One way is to find votes in a neighbourhood. Suppose you live in Surrey-Cloverdale. You know the people and issues in that area and the people know you. You seek and win a party nomination on the basis that you will find 16,100 supporters in your neighbourhood.

During the election do you place signs, go door-knocking, etc. all over Surrey? No, you will focus on your area and market yourself as the voice for Surrey-Cloverdale. You win. You know exactly who your voters are, they know you, and you have your own personal constituency.

A second way is to campaign on an issue. Suppose your issue is clean air. In this case your voters are sprinkled all over Surrey. But again, you market yourself to a very particular group of voters. You don’t need all Surrey votes, just some. Again, if you win you’ll know who your voters are. They have their organizations and networks. They contact you and you strife to serve them.

The proposed B.C. system creates a personal constituency for every MLA. The votes a MLA gets are not only for the party and the leader, in addition, there is a strong personal component.

Now, from the voter's perspective. Every MLA will have an equal number of exclusive supporters, and the MLA knows who they are. In contrast to the current system, those supporters can vote against their MLA in the next election without voting against that MLA's party and leader. MLAs will owe their position to their voters more than to their party.

In addition, "safe" seats are eliminated. The current system produces many safe seats. For example, Vancouver East has voted NDP and its predecessors continuously for seventy years, except from 1953–56 when it went Socred. What incentive is there to vote in Vancouver East if you are not NDP? In fact, what incentive is there for NDPers to vote? If politics was logical in safe ridings no one would vote. More and more people don’t.

In safe ridings the real contest is at the party nomination meeting. Hence the unseemly nomination fights that increasingly taint our democracy. The B.C. proposal ensures all seats are contested, not by instant party members whose fees are paid by candidates and whose loyalty is short and shallow, but on Election Day by the voters. Nominations will be cleaned up.

The Citizens' Assembly has wisely decided to make ballots user-friendly. Instead of long lists of alphabetically arranged names candidates will be grouped by party affiliation. Voters are asked to rank one or more candidates — 1, 2, 3, etc. Many voters will go directly to the party box of their choice which lists seven names at most. To avoid undue advantage the order in which parties and candidates are listed will vary from ballot to ballot.

Initially, a voter’s support will go to the first choice indicated. Your lower preferences will not be considered until your first choice is either eliminated or elected. Therefore lower choices cannot hurt higher choices.

What does it amount to? Most votes will count, little fear of wasting one’s vote, no fear of vote splitting. No need to support a candidate or party you don’t really want for fear of helping elect those you like even less. You can vote authentically. This is freedom for voters. This is how democracy is supposed to work.

The great 19th century political theorist John Stuart Mill, an early and ardent proponent, referred to this type of voting as Personal Representation. Every MLA has a personal constituency of equal size and is directly accountable to his/her voters. It delivers effective local representation.

British Columbia has an opportunity to do democracy differently. Seize the moment!

[© Copyright 2004 Nick Loenen . Reproduced here by permission of Mr. Loenen.]

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Nick Loenen is a former Richmond City Councillor (1983-87), and former Member of the British Columbia Legislature (1986-91). His book Citizenship and Democracy, a case for proportional representation was published by Dundurn Press, Toronto in 1997. In 1998 he founded Fair Voting BC a multi-partisan citizens group which since its inception lobbied for a referendum on voting system reform and helped shape the Citizens' Assembly process.