[news] Electoral Reform Activists Disappointed With City Council

[Steve Kisby]

http://www.alternatives.com/prorep/fev-0729.pdf

Media Release
For Immediate Release

Electoral Reform Activists Disappointed With City Council

VANCOUVER -- July 29, 2004 -- With the passing today of the motion to formally have a city-wide referendum between the current at-large system and a straight wards system, the COPE dominated City Council is attempting to saddle Vancouver with the same flawed system we now have at the provincial and federal levels. 

A straight ward system is a first-past-the-post single member electoral district system. That system is a winner take all system that suffers from unbalanced -- and sometimes wildly unbalanced -- election results, a sense of wasted votes, and "vote splitting" where there are more than two parties or candidates. This type of system experiences lower voter turnout and more non-participation when compared to other voting systems that incorporate proportionality (proportional representation) or preferential voting (ranked ballots). 

"We are going from one bad system to another," said Steve Kisby, as spokesperson for the group.

One of the dangers of rushing to a straight ward system before the provincial government has had an opportunity to implement the changes formally recommended by the Burger Commission, would be that the ward system would be implemented without the spending controls and financial reporting that have been widely called for.

"City Council is asking voters to go to a straight ward systems without spending controls and financial reporting," said Steve Kisby, "The system they want to bring in would be even worse than what we have now provincially and federally."

It is widely acknowledged that the provincial and federal system of wards is a flawed system, so much so that the provincial government enacted the Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform to examine other systems and make a recommendation to the voting public. That assembly has tentatively endorsed moving to a system that includes proportional representation.

Fair Vote Vancouver is made up of voters who came together in response to Vancouver's Electoral Reform Commission. They believe a voting system should be measured on these four principles: Proportionality (where there should be a close correspondence between the percentage of votes a party or political affiliation wins and the percentage of seats it wins), Voter Choice (where comparatively you want a voting system that is better at presenting the choices that voters want, and encourages voters to vote sincerely, rather than strategically), Local Representation (where all regions in Vancouver should be fairly represented in City Council), and Every Vote Counts (where the voting system should accord equal weight to all ballots cast and should minimize the wastage of votes). 

A proportional wards system would meet the above principles, and moving away from first-past-the-post voting and to ranked ballots would be a dramatic improvement.

Fair Elections Vancouver called on the Berger Commission, the Vancouver Electoral Reform Commission, to recommend in its report to City Council a system that it thinks is best for Vancouver, not just a system it believes can be done without a change to the City Charter. 

Background information can be found at http://www.alternatives.com/prorep and Fair Elections Vancouver can be contacted at prorep at alternatives.com

-30-

For more information:

Steve Kisby, 604-323-0204 (phone), 604-645-2099 (pager), skisby at web.net