Residents of B.C. will begin voting, by mail-in ballot, on electoral reform on October 22nd.
Voting will close November 30th.
David Eby, Attorney General, says there will be two questions on the ballot….
There are three models to choose from.
Dual Member Proportional would see two MLA’s elected, one based on the first past the post system and a second based on a proportional basis.
Eby says Mixed Member Proportional would keep First Past the Post elected MLA’s but add seats on a regional basis to increase the proportionality of the results.
He says Rural-Urban Proportional is a system that would elect MLA’s using a single transferable vote in urban areas and mixed member proportional in rural areas.
The chief electoral officer will select one designated group to advocate on behalf of retaining the current First Past the Post voting system and one to advocate on behalf of proportional representation.
Each group will get 500,000 dollars to press their case.
The results of the referendum will be binding on the government and a second referendum would be held after two government terms to see if voters want to continue with the chosen voting system.
Eby says, if a proportional system is adopted there will be no significant increase in the size of the legislature, no region of the province will have fewer MLAs than it currently has and no political party will be eligible to receive a seat if they receive less than 5 per cent of the overall vote in the province or region.
