Elections BC has begun sending out over 3.3 million Referendum On Electoral Reform voting packages to BC residents, asking whether we should continue using the First Past the Post System, or one of three versions of Proportional Representation.
The packages will be delivered by the end of the week to residents of Vancouver Island north of the Malahat, along with those in the Interior, up North, in Richmond, and in Vancouver. Residents of Greater Victoria and the rest of the lower mainland, will receive their voting packages by the end of the following week. The package will contain voting instructions and information, a ballot, a security sleeve, and an envelope.
Voters will see two questions on the ballot, and the Chief Electoral Officer Anton Broegman says participants can fill out as much or as little as they want. "A voter can complete one question, or both questions, the ballot will still be counted if a voter only completes one question in the referendum. For the second question, voters can rank 1, 2 or all 3 of the systems according to their preferences. Again, either way, the ballot will be counted." The filled in ballots will go into the security sleeve, then the envelope, which requires a signature and shared secret in order to be counted.
Elections BC must receive the filled in ballot before 4:30pm on November 30th, 2018, for the vote to count. It can be mailed in, or brought in person to a Service BC Centre, or Referendum Service Office. Broegman says "If voters are completing their packages close to the deadline, they may wish to use the in-person drop off locations, rather than placing it in the mail." He adds that if there are exceptional circumstances that could delay the process, such as further strike action or a lockout by Canada Post, then an extension will be granted to return the referendum ballots.
Counting will begin on December 1st, and will take a matter of weeks. The final results will be reported to the Speaker, then the results will be released to the public and posted to the Elections BC website.
If a new system is chosen, then it will go into affect after July 1st, 2021. If an election is needed prior to then, it will be done using the First Past the Post system.
For more information on the referendum or the proposed systems, you can visit the Elections BC website by clicking here.