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'BC-STV' is a proposed voting system recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform for use in British Columbia. A member of the Single Transferable Vote family of voting systems, BC-STV was narrowly defeated in a referendum in 2005 but will likely be re-proposed in identical form in 2008.

Contents

Background

First referendum

Second referendum

System design

Candidates

Electoral districts

Foreign comparisons

See also

External links

References

Background

The then ruling Liberal Government put together an assembly and gave it the mandate to come up with new electoral system. The assembly recommended what is now known as the BC-STV, and the Liberal Government put it to a referendum in time with the 2005 Provincial Elections.

First referendum

Main articles: British Columbia electoral reform referendum, 2005

BC-STV required 60% of the popular vote and 60% of the ridings to support in order for it to be passed. It received 97% of the ridings but only 57% of the vote.

Second referendum

Main articles: British Columbia electoral reform referendum, 2009

In the Speech from the Throne made to open the first session of the legislature after the 2005 election, the Campbell government clarified its next steps on electoral reform as follows:
:''The issue of electoral reform remains following the results of the referendum put before the public in May. Nearly 58 per cent of all citizens who cast a ballot in the recent referendum on electoral reform supported the proposed STV electoral system. A solid majority supported STV in all but two of B.C.'s 79 constituencies. And yet that was not enough to pass, according to the rules this Legislature unanimously established.''
:''Your government has been clear that it does not intend to rewrite those rules after the fact, or pretend that the vote for STV succeeded when it did not. Nor can it ignore the size of the double majority that voted to change our current electoral system to the STV model.''
:''[…]''
:''Your government does not accept that the solution to a majority vote that failed to pass is to essentially ignore it and impose yet another electoral system. It does not accept that the answer to the minority's rejection of the Citizens' Assembly's proposal is to redo its work. It does not accept that the 79 members of this assembly are any better qualified than the 161 members of the Citizens' Assembly were to choose the best electoral model.''
:''[…]''
:''One task that was never assigned to the Citizens' Assembly was to show precisely how its proposed STV model might apply on an electoral map. This was arguably a design flaw in its terms of reference that in retrospect may have impacted how people voted in the referendum. Your government believes that establishing STV constituency boundaries may provide the public with a critical piece of information that was missing at the time of the referendum. The government will recommend that shortcoming be rectified.''
:''The Legislature is obliged to appoint an Electoral Boundaries Commission this session. Your government will use that opportunity to take the challenge of electoral reform to its ultimate conclusion. […] The commission will also be asked to identify the best and fairest way to configure British Columbia's electoral districts under the STV model.
:''[…]''
:''That information will be put before the public as part of an extensive effort to better inform British Columbians about the two electoral options — the current system and STV. Equal funding will be provided to support active information campaigns for supporters and detractors of each model. The two models will be put to a province-wide vote, along with the applicable electoral boundaries, in a referendum that will be held in tandem with the November 2008 municipal elections.''
However on April 27, 2006, Premier Gordon Campbell said the referendum on electoral reform will now be held in tandem with the next provincial election in May 2009.

System design

Candidates

Political parties may run up to as many candidates as there are available seats in each electoral district. Major parties will typically run several candidates (though generally not more than they might expect to be successfully elected) while smaller parties might run only single candidates. The voter ranks their top choices (1,2,3,4, etc.) from the list of candidates and may rank, or vote, for as many or few candidates as they like. A quota for the district is determined based on the number of valid ballots cast and the number of seats available in the district. All the votes are counted and sorted by the voters' first preferences. Those candidates with enough first-preference votes to meet or exceed the quota are elected. A multiple-step vote counting and transfer process then ensues to determine the winners of the remaining seats in the district.
The new electoral districts would be formed by combining several of the current electoral districts. For example, Richmond and Delta's five current electoral districts might be combined into one electoral district which would produce five winners but not necessarily from the same party. An electoral district of that size might have between 10 and 25 candidates whose names will be grouped by political party on the ballot paper.

Electoral districts

Under the current FPTP system, British Columbians elect members from 79 one-member districts. Elections BC uses census data to maintain a uniform population level across districts so that voters have equal weight. Currently, districts have a mean population of 50,000. However, due to migration between census, consideration of population densities, and other factors there can be great discrepancies between electoral districts. Vancouver-Burrard has the largest population at about 67,000 people and North Coast has the smallest population at about 27,000 people.
One of the criticisms of this method of is that in many populous communities, in order to create districts with a population of approximately 50,000, it may be necessary to draw arbitrary boundaries which do not necessarily reflect a community of interest.
An Electoral Boundaries Commission would be charged with drawing up new electoral districts. Much larger districts will be created that will elect multiple members. Proponents argue that this would create districts with a stronger sense of community and common interest. For example, all the electoral districts within the municipality of Vancouver could be combined to form one electoral district with its borders running along the municipal borders. All the electoral districts within the Richmond and Delta could be combined to form one electoral district. The general ratio of one MLA per 50,000 residents would be used to determine the number of MLAs elected by a district.

Foreign comparisons

The proposed 'BC-STV' system was chosen by the members of the Citizens' Assembly to best suit B.C. However, it has specific similarities to and distinctions from STV electoral systems currently being used in other countries.

★ unlike the Australian electoral system, voters will not be required to rank every candidate

★ if votes are transferred because a candidate has exceeded the quota required to win, all of that candidate's ballots are examined for transfer votes (Senatorial rules), unlike the method used for the Irish Dáil in which, after a candidate has reached the quota, only remaining ballots are examined for further preferences (the Hare method)

★ In the case of a vacancy, a by-election is held using the BC-STV system. In a riding with a single vacancy, this is equivalent to the Alternative Vote system. This is similar to the Irish system, but differs from the system used in Australia and Malta, where the original ballots are recounted with the departing members' votes transferred to their next preferences.

See also

★ Single Transferrable Vote

★ Fair Vote Canada

External links

★ BC Referendum Office

★ Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform

★ Elections BC

★ CBC BC Votes 2005

★ Vern Faulkner 'Even democracy needs an upgrade now and then'

★ Simulations

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★ DemoChoice (UBC) 2005 STV Simulation

★
★ Poll comparing the STV to the FPTP system

★
★ Several animations comparing the electoral systems

References

★ Review of STV systems used in Australia, Ireland, North Ireland, Estonia, Malta and the Isle of Man

★ Ireland: The Archetypal STV System

★ Irish Proportional Representation System