After several months of studying voting systems and conducting meetings around the province, the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform has reached a recommendation for a new voting system for British Columbia.
Called single transferable vote (STV), the new system would allow the voter to rank the candidates with a number, prompting the assembly to say STV is as easy as 1,2,3. STV would allow the voter to mark a preference for as many or as few candidates as appealed to the individual.
For local member of the assembly Anne Dykes of Roberts Creek, STV meets the objectives outlined by the group.
"It does tick the boxes of the three priorities: local representation, proportionality, and voter choice," Dykes said.
The proposed system would secure the election of the candidate with the highest preference of the voters. By ranking each candidate, the voter can cast votes for more than one member of the same party - a feature Green Party leader Adriane Carr said will cause women to turn away from politics.
"This is one of the most adversarial types of voting there is. Not only do they (the candidates) run against other parties but against each other too," Carr said. "Women don't like it. In Ireland, which has a STV system, only 14 per cent of elected officials are women."
Ultimately the choice for the assembly was between the STV model and mixed member proportional (MMP), with STV being the choice of 123 of the 154 members.
MMP would have given the voter two votes each, one for the party of their choice and one for their preferred constituency candidate. Sixty per cent of the members of the legislature (MLAs) would be elected from constituencies (fewer and larger than the current number) and the remaining 40 per cent would come from party lists to create proportionality.
Carr and her party would have preferred the MMP system.
Under the STV proposal there would be geographically larger ridings, each with more than one MLA. The legislature would remain at 79 seats so the ratio of MLAs to population would remain the same as it is now. The model would allow the size of electoral districts and the number of MLAs elected per district to vary across the province. In sparsely populated areas, districts could have two or three MLAs, and in denser urban areas as many as five to seven MLAs. Districts with two MLAs, such as those anticipated in northern B.C. under STV, would be smaller than federal electoral districts. This system would not result in any reduction in the number of MLAs representing rural areas.
Larger geographical areas are a cause for alarm for Carr. "One proposal I've heard goes from the Sunshine Coast all the way up to Yale-Lillooet," she said. "Or we could be lumped in with West Vancouver and the North Shore."
Harold Long, the current MLA, did not respond to interview requests by press time.
New Democratic Party candidate Nicholas Simons said it's too soon to tell what the recommendation means.
"I think it would be a little premature and maybe even irresponsible for anyone to pass judgment right away, since the assembly's final report hasn't even been written yet," he said.
Both politicians praised the assembly for their service to the people of B.C.
Carr said the group had done an "incredible service" in moving forward the cause of electoral reform in the province.
For his part, Simons called the members of the assembly "very committed people who have worked very hard."
"I like the fact that regular people have done the work, people who have nothing to gain except a more representative government," Simons said.
Both Dykes and fellow representative from the Coast, Rick Dignard, will be featured at a meeting with the NDP candidate in the near future.
For Dykes, serving on the assembly was a valuable experience. And she's proud of the way the group worked together.
"The general feeling across the entire assembly was that people would stand behind whatever the choice would be," Dykes said.
Now it's up to the voters of B.C. to see whether they agree. That opportunity will come in a referendum on May 17, 2005 during the provincial election.
