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‘Yes’ campaign confident on eve of election

Grass roots campaign for electoral reform has one part-time employee

If the Yes Campaign for the Single Transferable Vote is successful, and the majority of B.C. voters in the provincial election on May 17 pass a referendum to adopt proportional representation in the Legislature, it will be a triumph of grass roots campaigning.

With a small budget, one part-time staff member, and a network of less than 200 volunteers, the Yes Campaign has less than two months to convince the people of B.C. to adopt the proportional representation system put forward by the Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform last December.

The system would radically change the face of politics in the province, redrawing electoral boundaries, allowing more than one candidate from each party to run within each riding, and giving voters the ability to rank their choices in order of preference.

It’s a tall order, but Yes Campaign leaders are confident they can make their case.

"I think awareness is slowly going up, and it’s people… in the media that are helping with that," said Julian West, who has been campaigning for electoral reform and proportional representation since 1996, when the Liberal Party won the popular vote but the NDP won the controlling share of seats.

"I think we’re getting to the point where most people are aware that there’s something going on, even if it means they still have a bunch of questions. What we’ve learned from opinion polls is that when people do learn about the (STV) system and how it works, they do like it, and that we’re already running very strongly with decided voters."

According to an Ipsos-Reid poll in February, only 50 per cent of voters were aware of the referendum, which will ask: "Should British Columbia change to the BC-STV electoral system as recommended by the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform? Yes/No"

Awareness is significantly higher among decided voters. Green Party voters were 81 per cent for the STV system, and 19 per cent against. NDP and Liberal voters are 78 per cent and 62 per cent in favour.

"The problem is with the large undecided vote, and our real task is to try and reduce that by educating more people so they can cast an informed vote. If we do that, we think the Yes side is going to win," said West.

The Citizens Assembly, which was created by the Liberal government and comprised of two representatives from each of the 79 provincial ridings, took thousands of submissions and reviewed dozens of electoral systems in use around the world before all but seven members voted in favour of the STV.

The Yes Campaign is hoping to have volunteers in every provincial riding to speak to the media, speak to interested groups and attend all-candidates meetings with information for the public.

The media is especially important to the Yes Campaign in light of their limited funding. Radio stations are already hosting debates on the merits of STV, and newspapers will increase their coverage of the STV system as the election nears, says West.

But the STV system does have its opponents. According to West, the opponents are likely to be people who have been involved with political parties in the past and are wary of changing the system. "There are people that like to go out and have a single constituency, and campaign for a single candidate – they’re not sure what they would do if they have to campaign for more than one candidate on a slate… and they tend to be a little more skeptical," he said.

There are also critics who doubt the system will achieve its goal of creating more dialogue in the Legislature. They believe most people vote for political parties, not individual candidates, in which case the STV system would do little to change the party system in place today.

Others are concerned that the STV system will create minority governments that will be paralyzed by debate, and which will be forced to form alliances and voting blocks on certain issues, rather than building consensus.

Another concern is that larger ridings will reduce regional representation in the Legislature for rural communities, and that local issues will be lost.

Some believe the system is too complicated, and that voters won’t understand the ballots.

Bernard Schulmann, the lone employee of the Yes Campaign, maintains that the STV system has been proven in other electoral districts around the world, including Ireland, Malta, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.

"A game of checkers is more complicated than the STV. I think it’s just a case where the people aren’t used to it. But when people come to a meeting and learn about it, they overwhelmingly leave prepared to vote yes," he said.

"Voting for one candidate or one party, the first past the post system where the winner takes all even if it’s by a single vote, is an arcane system, one that almost no other countries are using anymore."

Parties like the Green Party, which earned 12.3 per cent of the popular vote in the last election but didn’t win any seats in the Legislature, stand to gain the most from the STV system.

The first past the post electoral system has been a source of controversy in the last two elections. In 1996, the Liberal Party won the popular vote by more than 40,000 ballots, 41.8 per cent compared to the NDP’s 39.5 per cent, but only claimed 33 of 79 seats. The NDP claimed the majority with 39 seats.

In 2001, the Liberal Party won 58 per cent of the popular vote but claimed 77 out of 79 seats. Meanwhile the NDP earned 22 per cent, or almost a quarter of the popular vote, but wound up with just two seats until they won a third seat in a recent byelection.

So far none of the major political parties have endorsed the STV system, but West says that’s to be expected.

"I’m not sure it’s even appropriate," he said.

The Yes Campaign is still looking for volunteers for the West Vancouver-Garibaldi riding, which includes Squamish and Whistler. If you’re interested, contact volunteer@stvforbc.com. To learn more about how the STV system works, visit www.stvforbc.com.

Elections B.C. voter registration drive underway

In February Elections B.C. launched a province-wide voter registration campaign to create voter lists in advance of the May 17 provincial general election and referendum on electoral reform. To date the program has been successful, with more than 198,000 voter records updated, and 40,671 new voters registering. Approximately 2,746,000 B.C. residents are now registered to vote.

However, Elections B.C. believes that voter information is out of date for approximately 600,000 voters. If you’ve moved since the last election, you can update your registration until Tuesday, April 26 to receive Where to Vote Information.

Pre-registering makes it faster and easier to vote on May 17. Voters who don’t update their information will have to bring two pieces of identification, and may have to line up to register with their current information.

You can update your information on the Elections B.C. website at www.elections.bc.ca, or by calling 1-800-661-8683.