British Columbians won’t be using a new voting system for the next provincial election after voters rejected a switch to proportional representation (PR) by 61.3 per cent.
Of 3,297,395 registered voters, 1,430,358 voted. Of those, 38.7 per cent approved electoral change, said Chief Electoral Officer, Anton Boegman.
Voting results for the 2018 Referendum on Electoral Reform are now available https://t.co/e5OfKTOzkS
— Elections BC (@ElectionsBC) December 20, 2018
Of votes to change to a PR system, 41.24 per cent supported mixed-member proportional (MMP), 29.45 per cent supported dual-member proportional (DMP) and 29.51 per cent chose rural-urban proportional (RUP).
A decision either way in the binding referendum required 50 per cent plus one to pass.
Both NDP Premier John Horgan and B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver expressed disappointment at the vote.
“British Columbians have now spoken and chosen to stick with the current voting system,” Horgan said. “This referendum was held because we believe that this decision needed to be up to people, not politicians. While many people, myself included, are disappointed in the outcome, we respect people’s decision.”
Said Weaver, “We campaigned on proportional representation because representative democracy is one of the six core principles of the B.C. Green Party.”
“We will continue to champion policies that will strengthen B.C.’s democracy and make it more responsive to and representative of the people of B.C.,” Weaver said.
Mike Morris, Liberal MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie, called the outcome "significant."
"This is the third referendum in about a decade and I think B.C. voters are getting tired of this question and I think this result shows that. Let's put this behind us and get on with addressing real issues, hard issues that are facing us here with respect to jobs, resource development and infrastructure projects and what not," he tells PrinceGeorgeMatters. "Fifteen million dollars that was wasted on this referendum could have been used in many other different areas."
A total of 1,391,423 ballots were returned. There were 1,378,753 valid votes for Question 1 on whether or not to change from FTPT and 831,760 valid votes for Question 2 where voters had to choose between the three PR choices. Some 2,461 ballots were rejected.
None of the proportional representation voting systems won more than 50 per cent in the first round of counting of all three choices.
With the fewest votes, RUP was eliminated and its votes transferred to voters’ second preferences.
In the second round of counting, MMP received a majority of votes with 63.05 per cent (491,630) of the continuing ballots.
Of British Columbia’s 87 provincial ridings, only 15 chose proportional representation. Six of those ridings are in Vancouver.
The campaign was contentious if not bitter at times, as both sides accused each other of misleading voters. Yes vote proponents accused the No side of fearmongering while the No side accused counterparts of confusing the electorate.
In the 2005 and 2009 electoral reform referendums, the choice was a simple Yes or No to moving to single transferable vote.
Ballots were being verified and checked so there were no duplicates or spoiled ballots as they arrived at secure Elections B.C. locations in Victoria by the Dec. 7 deadline.
The final tally came after a so-called risk audit in which test ballots were run through ballot tallying machines to ensure they worked properly.
Here are the local voting results by electoral district:
Prince George-Mackenzie
Question 1 results:
- FPTP - 9,637 (71.30 per cent)
- PR - 3,771 (28.70 per cent)
- Total valid votes - 13,138
- Invalid votes - 78
Question 2, round 1 votes (first preferences):
- DMP - 1,824 (25.19 per cent)
- MMP - 2,749 (37.96 per cent)
- RUP - 2,699 (36.85 per cent)
- Total valid votes - 7,242
- Invalid votes - 5,974
Question 2, round 2 (after second preference transfers):
- DMP votes: 2,217 (34.31 per cent)
- MMP - 4,245 (65.69 per cent)
- RUP: ---
Prince George-Valemount
Question 1 results:
- FPTP - 9,581 (70.87 per cent)
- PR - 3,939 (29.13 per cent)
- Total valid votes- 17,298
- Invalid votes - 95
Question 2, round 1
- DMP - 2,034 (27.43 per cent)
- MMP - 2,759 (37.21 per cent)
- RUP - 2,622 (35.36 per cent)
- Total valid votes - 7,415
- Invalid votes - 6,200
Question 2, round 2
- DMP - 2,439 (36.67 per cent)
- MMP - 4,213 (63.33 per cent)
- RUP: ---
- Jeremy Hainsworth, Jessica Fedigan
