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BC Chooses Dishonest Electoral Reform Referendum

There is good news and bad news on the BC electoral reform front.

The good news is that BC has decided to use preferential voting in its referendum.  The bad news, part of it anyway, is that preferential voting can only be used if you support proportional representation.  The bad news continues:  preferential voting is not one of the four options that voters can choose from.  One is first past the post and three are complicated versions of proportional representation.  More bad news, the four options are not equal.  First past the post will require more votes to win than do the proportional options.

There will be two questions.  The first is a choice between first past the post and one of the three proportional representation models.  Unless first past the post gets over 50% of the votes in the first round, it gets eliminated.  The second question is the ability to rank the three proportional systems.  Those who do not want proportional representation will not be able to vote on this second question in good conscience, so the decision will be made by the remaining voters.  Two of the three PR options are obscure ones that have never been used in any other elections anywhere.  It also seems that the election will be a mail-in ballot with no minimum threshold.  This means that only those who are motivated to vote and who believe that they understand the options are likely to actually vote.

We do not support first past the post.  However, we urge our members and supporters in BC to lie on the ballot and claim that they do support it, and to void the second ballot if the rules allow it.  The combination of constraints on the voting and the absence of a preferential alternative make is clear that this referendum is not intended as an honest consultation of BC voters, this is an attempt to guarantee a result that will give a permanent electoral advantage to some parties and a disadvantage to others.

1 comment for “BC Chooses Dishonest Electoral Reform Referendum

  1. Roger Buxton
    June 8, 2018 at 10:06 pm

    I agree that Preferential voting is the only option I am interested in.

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