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Electoral Systems: First Past the Post and BC-STV This page and its links are designed to help you learn about the current electoral system and the one recommended by the Citizens' Assembly. Here you will also be introduced to some questions to think about when considering how you might vote in the referendum.
This is the simplest definition of an electoral system (or voting system). There is a variety of specific electoral systems and no two countries' system are identical, but there are three basic groups of systems: plurality, majoritarian, and proportional. Our current system is popularly known as First Past The Post (or FPTP). Its technical name is Single Member Plurality. It is a plurality system. Under this system, there is one elected member for each electoral district, and voters vote for one candidate only. Whoever gets the most votes in an electoral district wins that seat and becomes the district's MLA.
The proposed BC-STV is a form of the Single Transferable Vote model. It is an electoral system that is designed to produce a fairly proportional result -- that is, the number of seats a political party wins should be close to its share of the overall popular vote.
Under this model, there would be fewer electoral districts in B.C., but voters would elect more than one MLA from each district. The total number of MLAs in the province would stay the same. Voters would rank their preferences from their first choice down to as many candidates as they wish. An electoral quota is calculated to determine how many votes are needed to win in each district, and a process of transferring voters' second, third, and further choices is used to determine who gets elected. The full argument in favour of BC-STV is contained in the Citizens' Assembly's report, available at www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/public. Below are links to help you learn about these two electoral systems:
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