Referendum day in British Columbia

If my understanding is correct, tomorrow will be both referendum and election day in British Columbia. Unfortunately, I haven't been following the election quite as closely as I would have liked so I don't really know is expected to win, but a third Liberal victory doesn't seem particularly unlikely.

Possibly more important than the election is the referendum on electoral system reform. If approved, by 60% of the voting public with majority support in at least 51 ridings, the result would be the adoption of the single transferable vote (STV) system by British Columbia. Not only would this be a big change for British Columbia voters, who would in future elect MLAs from multi-member districts rather than single member districts, but it would also be an opportunity for other North Americans to see a proportional representation system up close.

While I am not a particularly big fan of STV (for a number of reasons that I won't get into here) I becoming more and more convinced that it would be good for most of North America to see such a system in action (whether it is good for British Columbia is an entirely different matter).

Unfortunately it seems that there has been a great deal of misinformation surrounding this and other PR proposals in North America. This is rather unfortunate as it focuses the debate on matters of relative importance and allow more substantive issues to go undebated. Generally it seems that many of the boosters over state the potential positive impacts, while those opposed to the reforms attempt to spread fear about the danger of the system. While it is likely that such a system would result in more proportional results, it will certainly not eliminate all problems of representation that are experienced in British Columbia at the moment, nor will it lead to a complete collapse of the political system. This system has been used successfully in Ireland for almost 100 years and doesn't seem to be particularly problematic (nor does it seem to be a problem in a number of the other jurisdictions where it is used).

In particular, I feel that it also important to point out that while STV systems are not presently used in a large number of national elections, it is one of the older PR systems and was developed in the 1800s and was supported by John Stuart Mill. So while it may not be as prominent as mixed-member proportional or various list systems, it has a long history and reputable supporters. This is not some new fangled invention without a track record (whether you want what it has to offer is another matter).

I guess my main belief is that we shouldn't blindly use the single member plurality system simply because it is what we have used. After reflection and examination it may turn out that this system, which provides each individual and region with a single elected representative, is the one desired by the majority of the population, but such a decision shouldn't be made before at least considering a few of the alternative systems, some of which seem to work rather effectively in a range of countries.

So I guess for selfish reasons I hope that the referendum passes tomorrow, and I wish that I had put a little more time into this post as I think some of the ideas aren't quite as clearly articulated and developed as I might like. Anyway, I guess by some time late tomorrow evening we will know whether BC has a new government and whether or not they will be making the switch to STV.