Democracy in B.C. is broken. In 2001, opposition parties received 42 per cent of votes, but only three per cent of parliamentary seats. Those voters might as well have stayed at home, and in fact that’s just what is happening: Voter turnout is less than 60 per cent in Canada, compared to almost 70 per cent in Ireland and more than 80 per cent in Australia.

Currently, many people’s ideas are not well represented in debates in the legislature, and their concerns are not being effectively addressed in government. It’s not just people who voted for candidates (of any party) who didn’t get elected — it’s also people who held their noses and voted strategically because they felt their first-choice candidate couldn’t win. It’s no surprise many people are frustrated and don’t bother to vote.

The proposed B.C. single transferable vote (BC-STV) system can fix this by also counting voters’ second and third choices. BC-STV will be fairer than the current electoral system because the number of MLAs from each party will be closer to the proportion of votes they receive.

The Green party has suffered badly under the current system: Despite polling nine to 18 per cent over the last few years, it has never had an MLA. But the Greens are not the only ones that have been disempowered unfairly — in 2001, it was the NDP, and in 1996 it was the Liberals.

In the 2005 referendum, a majority of voters (58 per cent) chose STV, not quite the 60 per cent needed.

Support STV: It’s fairer and it will improve the quality of debate. May 12 is your opportunity to restore democracy to B.C.

System
• In 2004, a diverse group of 160 B.C. citizens were brought together to choose a new, fairer voting system for the province — the group chose BC-STV.

• Ireland and Australia have been successfully using the STV system for decades.

• STV is easy to use — just rank candidates according to your preference.

– Kai Chan is an assistant professor and Canada Research Chair at the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability (IRES) at UBC; vancouverletters@metronews.ca. Conor Reynolds is a PhD candidate in IRES, doing research on energy transportation and climate change.