Proportional representation is a new way of voting – one that works for you.
For over 70 years, our voting system has worked for insiders and those who know how to use the system the best: those who have been in power the most. It isn’t fair that a government that gets 40% of the votes should get 100% of the power. The way to make voting more fair for everyone in BC is to give people a new way to vote – and that’s pro rep.
Adjacent riding would be combined so that each riding would have two MLAs, with a few rural ridings continuing to have one MLA, as they do now.
Voters would elect a candidate from the party that gets the most overall votes in each riding and would elect a second candidate based on each party’s provincial vote share and the candidates’ local support, to ensure that a party’s number of seats closely reflects their share of the overall vote.
Voters would continue to vote for a local candidate, and likely also a regional candidate or a preferred party.
Regional MLAs would be elected to make sure that a party’s number of seats in each region closely reflects their share of the overall vote in the region.
Voters in urban areas would rank their top choices in order of preference, and the top-ranked candidates would be elected.
Voters in rural areas would elect local MLAs as well as regional MLAs, in order to ensure that a party’s number of seats in each region closely reflects their share of the overall vote in the region.
This fall’s referendum gives us the chance to vote for a better way of electing governments. In the first question, people will get to choose whether they want to replace the status quo with proportional representation. Voters can vote on the first question only, to choose pro rep – and that’s it. If voters want to help choose the kind of pro rep they want, they can vote for that, too. Voters will have a chance to affirm their choice after two elections. No jurisdiction that has moved to proportional representation has gone back to first-past-the-post.
