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Electoral Reform - Referendum Information Office

Counting the Votes

Under the proposed BC-STV electoral system, the process for counting votes is considerably different from the current First Past the Post (FPTP) system.  Under FPTP, voters mark an “x” next to their preferred candidate, the votes are counted and the candidate with the most votes wins that electoral district.

BC-STV Step-By-Step
What Happens To My Vote?
Vote-Counting Simulations

BC-STV Step-By-Step

Under BC-STV, several rounds of counting take place, as follows:


  1. Count Voters’ First Preferences
    After the polls close, all valid ballots are sorted and counted according to the first-preference candidate marked on each.

  2. Calculate the Electoral Quota
    To win a seat in the Legislative Assembly, a candidate must receive a minimum number of votes - called the electoral quota.  This quota is calculated using the number of valid ballots cast in the electoral district as well as the number of MLAs to be elected in that district.

    For example, if 25,000 votes are cast in a four-member electoral district, the electoral quota would be 5,001 --  that is, 25,000 divided by (4+1) + 1, which equals 5,001. 

    See more information about the electoral quota.

  3. Transfer Surpluses (see an example (PDF, 54.9KB))
    If a candidate has more than the necessary number of votes to be elected, a formula is used to transfer the surplus votes for that candidate to the next preferences indicated on the ballots of the voters who voted for that candidate. To determine what fraction of those voters’ votes should be transferred to their next preferences, the transfer value is calculated.

  4. Eliminate Candidates
    If, at any round of counting, no candidate has met the quota, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. All of the eliminated candidate's votes are then redistributed (at the value they had when assigned to that candidate) to the next preferences marked on each ballot.

  5. Continue Counting Until All Seats Are Filled
    The process continues of transferring surpluses of elected candidates, or votes from eliminated candidates if no candidate is elected with a surplus, through the necessary rounds of counting until all the seats have been filled.

  6. Set Aside Exhausted Ballots
    In the course of counting, if a ballot is eligible to be transferred but there are no more preferences indicated on that ballot, it is considered exhausted and is put aside. This can happen when:
    • a voter marks very few preferences, or
    • all of that voter’s preferred candidates have already been elected and/or excluded.

    It is possible for candidates who have not reached the quota to be elected. If there are any vacant seats remaining and no more eligible voters' preferences to be counted, then the final seat(s) are won by the candidate(s) with the most votes at that stage of counting. This situation becomes more likely if there are a large number of exhausted ballots.

    By-elections

    If a seat becomes vacant between elections, a by-election is held in that electoral district to elect a new MLA. BC-STV specifies that by-elections would use the same type of ballot used in regular BC-STV elections, with voters ranking their preferences in the same manner. If only one MLA is to be elected, candidates require a majority of votes (50% + 1) to be elected. If more than one vacancy is to be filled in a district, the normal BC-STV vote counting procedures and quota calculation are used.

What happens to my vote?

Here are a few things to keep in mind about how your vote is counted under BC-STV:

  • The preferences you have indicated on your ballot are not all counted and assigned at the beginning of the counting process.
  • Instead, your vote is initially assigned to your first-choice candidate, and stays with that candidate until he or she is either elected with a surplus of votes, or is dropped from the ballot because he or she has the fewest votes.
  • If your vote is transferred because a candidate you supported gets elected with a surplus, your vote is transferred at a fractional value, known as the transfer value.
  • If your vote is transferred because a candidate you supported is dropped from the ballot, your vote is transferred at the value it had when it was assigned to the candidate who has been dropped.
  • When election results are reported, you would be able to track your vote – so long as you remember whom you voted for, and in what order.

The Loonie analogy:

One way of thinking about your vote under BC-STV is that it’s like having a dollar to spend. Initially you “spend” your dollar on your first-choice candidate. If he or she is elected with a surplus, then you have a certain amount of your dollar “left over” to spend on your second choice, and so on. How much of your dollar it takes to elect a candidate depends on how many other voters also spend their dollars on that candidate.

Referendum Information Office BC-STV Vote Counting Simulations

Click on the following documents to view these simulations. Both documents guide you step-by-step through a hypothetical BC-STV election, and are simplified for explanatory purposes.  The first is more basic; the second includes more detail.

Vote Counting Simulation 1 (PDF, 124KB)
Vote Counting Simulation 2 (PDF, 88KB)

Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform

Vote-counting animation on the website of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform
Chart (PDF, 58.3KB) showing an outline of the vote-counting process

Questions? Check out some Frequently Asked Questions or contact us directly.