No Change To BC Voting Sytem

By Corey Fischer

Dec 20, 2018 | 2:36 PM

BC residents have opted to keep the current voting system.

Elections BC says 61.3% (845,235) supported keeping the first past the post system in a referendum, while 38.7% (533,518) wanted to change to proportional representation.

Just over 1.4 million ballots were returned for the mail in referendum, which worked out to 42% of the packages sent out.

65% of Vernon Monashee voters and 69% in the Shuswap riding supported keeping the current system.

It’s the third time BC voters have been asked if they want to make a change to the voting system.

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It doesn’t matter after the outcome of question 1, but the Mixed Member Proportional voting system got the most support of the PR options at 63% in a second round of voting.

Click HERE for the full results.

Premier John Horgan accepts the decision of voters.

“British Columbians have now spoken and chosen to stick with the current voting system. This referendum was held because we believe that this decision needed to be up to people, not politicians. While many people, myself included, are disappointed in the outcome, we respect people’s decision,” said Horgan.

“We campaigned on proportional representation because representative democracy is one of the 6 core principles of the B.C. Green Party,” said Green Party leader Andrew Weaver. “While we are disappointed with this result, we respect British Columbians’ decision to retain the current First Past the Post system.”

“I think people saw through this convoluted referendum.” said Liberal and Opposition leader Andrew Wilkinson. “This was a flawed process from the beginning as the NDP stacked the deck to satisfy the Green Party and remain in power.”

by Corey Fischer