Coalition to explain STV system

The Active Voice Coalition will host two information meetings in Prince George about the proposed BC-STV vote system.
Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Reform member Mary Jarbek, UNBC professor Dr. Alex Michalos, and Fair Voting BC co-founder Nick Loenen will speak at the meetings, both on March 1.
“Northerners have had deep concerns about the electoral process in the province for a long period of time,” the Coalition release states. “The First Past the Post System, which has been in place for 50 years, has serious flaws and over these years has alienated and frustrated many voters.”
The Active Voice Coalition supports the move to a single-transferable vote system, proposed by the Citizen’s Assembly late last year. Voters will cast ballots in a referendum during the May 17 provincial election to approve the system for use beginning in 2009.
But Active Voice Coalition spokesperson Peter Ewart said the meetings will focus on providing information so residents can make an informed vote.
Under the system, voters will rank candidates in order of preference. A candidate who meets the quota to be elected -determined by the number of voters and the number of candidates - has his or her extra votes transferred to voters’ second choice. The process continues until all MLAs in a riding are elected. Voters can choose among several candidates from the same party, and independents. The Assembly feels that will force MLAs to offer better representation at home, and voters the chance to put the person before his or her party if they choose.
Those ridings may be bigger, but local representation and the number of seats in the legislature will not change.
“BC-STV…increases the likelihood that MLAs will represent the voters who elected them,” the release states. Because all candidates will run in multi-member ridings, they “will need to distinguish themselves by clearly representing the voters in their riding, rather than blindly following a party line dictated in Victoria.”
Loenen, a former Social Credit MLA, has written a book on electoral reform and written extensively about voting system reform. Fair Voting BC is a citizen’s organization dedicated to changing the way British Columbians elect their MLAs.
Michalos is the director of the Institute for Social Research and Evaluation at UNBC, and has held several offices in the New Democratic Party over the past 25 years.
Jarbek, the director of community relations at the Child Development Centre, was one of 160 British Columbians chosen at random to serve on the Citizen’s Assembly, which recommended the BC-STV system after nearly a year of public consultation and deliberation.
The first Prince George meeting will be held March 1 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at room 605 at the university. The second meeting takes place from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in room 1-306 at the College of New Caledonia.
Meetings will also be held in Mackenzie Feb. 28 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at St. Peter’s Church hall (with Loenen) and McBride March 2 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Roundhouse Theatre ion the McBride Secondary School, also with Loenen.