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News release: Electoral system named14th November, 2004 :
Vancouver (Internal)
Electoral system named
Members of B.C.'s Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform gave a
name Sunday to the new electoral system they are proposing for the
province: BC-STV, short for British Columbia Single Transferable
Vote.
Under the BC-STV system, voters rank candidates by numbers on
the ballot paper. BC-STV is designed to make every vote count, and
to reflect voters' support for candidates and parties as fairly as
possible.
Now it's up to the voters of B.C., who will cast ballots on
BC-STV in a referendum in the next provincial election, on May 17,
2005.
Assembly members drafted Sunday a simple question they propose
for the referendum:
"Do you agree that British Columbia should change to the BC-STV
electoral system as recommended by the Citizens' Assembly in its
final report? Yes/No."
That draft question now will go to lawyers in the B.C. attorney
general's ministry, to ensure it meets constitutional and other
legal standards. It will come to the Assembly for approval.
The provincial government says that if voters approve the BC-STV
model in May, it will introduce legislation so the new system of
translating votes into seats in the legislature could go into
effect for the provincial election of May 2009.
Meeting in Vancouver on the weekend, members also began to work
on their final report to the people of B.C. The target date for
release is the afternoon of 10 December. (By mandate, the report
must be delivered no later than December 15.)
The Assembly meets again in Vancouver November 27-28 to finish
work on the report, and to wrap up its work. Then the Assembly
disbands, and the Assembly office begins to close.
On December 10, Volume 1 of the report will be a 16-page
document that examines both the current electoral system (often
known as First Past the Post) and BC-STV. It will explain the
Assembly’s rationale for recommending BC-STV. You can
order a copy through the Citizens’ Assembly website at
www.citizensassembly.bc.ca
Volume 2 of the report, available by year-end, will likely be a
300-page book that includes background and historical data on the
Assembly and its work.
The BC-STV model was custom-built by members to meet the needs
of B.C. and to address three over-riding values: local
representation, voter choice, and increased "proportionality"
– the concept that each party’s share of
seats in the legislature should reflect its share of the popular
vote.
The voter using BC-STV would see two key changes from the
current system:
The voter would be able to mark preferences for as many or as
few candidates on the ballot as the voter wishes. The voter thus
can rank candidates of more than one party, all of the same party,
and/or independents and minorities.
The Assembly’s model would allow the size of
electoral districts and the number of MLAs elected per district to
vary across the province to reflect local and regional conditions.
In sparsely populated areas, districts could comprise as few as two
MLAs and, in denser urban districts as many as five, six or even
seven MLAs. All 79 MLAs will continue to be elected directly in
constituencies.
Districts with two MLAs, such as those anticipated in northern
B.C. under BC-STV, would still be smaller than federal electoral
districts. This system would not result in any reduction in the
number of MLAs representing rural areas.
Single Transferable Vote (STV) systems in various formats are
used in Ireland, Malta and Australian and a number of
municipalities. Ireland has had STV for most of the last 100 years.
Despite attempts by government to kill STV, the Irish have
repeatedly voted to keep it.
The Citizens’ Assembly is an independent,
representative, non-partisan group of 160 randomly selected British
Columbians, including chair Jack Blaney. Details of its work and
the BC-STV system are at
» FOOTNOTE
Here's how the Assembly members' voting went Sunday on the
name:
Yes: 95. No: 49.
STV alone: 21. STV plus something else: 124
PR-STV: 21. Citizens' Choice STV: 31. BC-STV:
93.
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