One of the biggest issues with British Columbia\u2019s current electoral system is that it does a poor job of translating voters\u2019 preferences into parliamentary seats.<\/p>\n
In the province\u2019s first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes in their riding wins a seat in the provincial legislature. This means that every vote cast that doesn\u2019t go to the single victorious candidate effectively doesn\u2019t count in the election. These are often referred to as \u201cwasted votes.\u201d<\/p>\n
A recent Broadbent Institute report focused on BC and titled An Electoral System for All<\/em><\/a> argues that it\u2019s time for British Columbians to forgo the FPTP system and adopt a proportional representation (PR) system. An electoral reform referendum, to be held by mail from October 22 to November 2, asks British Columbians two questions: whether they want to move from FPTP to a system of proportional representation, and which of the three offered PR systems they prefer. More than 50 percent of respondents must choose PR over FPTP for any change to occur, with the specific PR system determined by which receives the plurality of support. Each of the three systems \u2014 mixed-member proportional, rural-urban proportional and dual-member proportional \u2014 is described in the Broadbent Institute report, and elsewhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n In BC elections now, it\u2019s not unusual for candidates to take ridings with less than 50 percent of the votes cast. This means many candidates or governments can get elected or win a majority despite having won only a minority of the vote, creating what are known as \u201cfalse majorities.\u201d<\/p>\n Imagine an election when three candidates run in a riding and the votes are split relatively equally between them: the candidate of party A receives 8,500 votes, party B\u2019s candidate receives 8,000 votes, and party C\u2019s candidate receives 7,500 votes. Under FPTP, party A\u2019s candidate wins, having received the most votes. In fact, it\u2019s as if party B\u2019s and party C\u2019s votes \u2014 which together represent roughly two-thirds of all votes cast in the election \u2014 hadn\u2019t been cast at all. This demonstrates how the occurrence of wasted votes under FPTP harms a core democratic principle: political equality. If you\u2019re a strong supporter of party C and you live in this riding, you don\u2019t have the same opportunity to have your views represented as a supporter of party A does. If you strongly opposed party A, you could vote strategically for party B to try to prevent party A from winning the riding. This sort of strategic voting, which is common under FPTP, illustrates how FPTP pressures voters into making electoral choices that don\u2019t fully express their true preferences. In this riding \u2014 similar to many across Canada \u2014 the votes from supporters of the least popular party simply don\u2019t count.<\/p>\n Why PR4BC?<\/strong><\/p>\n So how does PR address these problems? PR systems more directly translate a party\u2019s popular vote total into legislative seats. In an election under basic PR, if a party receives 30 percent of the popular vote, it wins 30 percent of the legislative seats, whether or not it received the most votes in any one riding. Further, PR systems seem to support democratic engagement. Globally, PR systems tend to increase voter turnout by 5 to 7 percent, and they support the election of more politically diverse bodies of legislators. These could be responses to PR systems\u2019 capacity to make every vote count more directly than FPTP. Additionally, PR systems have the capacity to increase representation of women and ethnic and religious minorities in elected office.<\/p>\n The fundamental promise of the franchise of voting is that, quite simply, your vote will count. While no individual ballot is likely to decide an election, each vote cast is \u2014 at least ideally \u2014 intended to actually <\/em>influence the election\u2019s outcome, not merely have the possibility<\/em> of doing so. In FPTP elections, wasted votes don\u2019t recognizably impact the outcome of an election or the makeup of the legislative assembly it produces.<\/p>\n With the upcoming referendum, BC has the opportunity to bring in an electoral system that reduces the incidence of wasted votes, promotes voter turnout and increases democratic engagement. If voters choose PR, this change could bolster electoral reform efforts in other provinces \u2014 or even federally \u2014 by demonstrating PR\u2019s ability to invigorate democratic politics for the better.<\/p>\n Support for PR is growing; distorted election results, most recently in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick, continue to demonstrate why we need to update our electoral system and implement proportional representation.<\/p>\n Photo: BC Attorney General David Eby speaks to media following the public engagement launch for the referendum on electoral reform during a press conference at Legislature in Victoria, in November 2017. The Canadian Press, by Chad Hipolito.<\/span><\/p>\n Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the\u00a0<\/em>Policy Options\u00a0discussion, and send in your own submission.\u00a0Here is a\u00a0<\/em>link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on how to do it.\u00a0<\/em>|\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ?\u00a0<\/em>Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques\u00a0et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces\u00a0<\/em>directives<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the biggest issues with British Columbia\u2019s current electoral system is that it does a poor job of translating voters\u2019 preferences into parliamentary seats. In the province\u2019s first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, the candidate who receives the greatest number of votes in their riding wins a seat in the provincial legislature. This means that every vote […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":274669,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T02:16:21Z","apple_news_api_id":"9ab05889-6992-4a52-a244-26f5fbc5f001","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T02:16:21Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AmrBYiWmSSlKiRCb1-8XwAQ","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9358,9372],"tags":[8367,9256],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4250,4295],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[7087],"class_list":["post-266625","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politique","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-british-columbia-fr","tag-elections-provinciales","irpp-category-democratie","irpp-category-politique","irpp-tag-colombie-britannique"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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