How We Vote

Engagement Summary

The B.C. Government has introduced legislation to hold a referendum in the fall of 2018, which will ask British Columbians to decide whether B.C. should keep its current voting system (First Past the Post) or move to a system of Proportional Representation. Countries around the world use different voting systems to elect their representatives. How a voting system is designed influences how a society is governed.

From November 23, 2017 to February 28, 2018, British Columbians were invited to participate in a public engagement by completing an online questionnaire, reading submissions from organizations, and learning about voting systems used here and elsewhere in the world.

Your input will help shape key elements of the referendum, including how the ballot should be designed, the question(s) it should contain, and whether organizations should receive public funding to campaign for their preferred voting system.

Timeframe: 

November 23, 2017 – February 28, 2018

Input received:

• 180,880 visits to the How We Vote engagement website
• 88,547 fully completed questionnaires were received
• 2 million mailers were distributed to households across B.C.
• 47 stakeholder submissions received
• 563 individual submissions were received

Input leads to action:

Results of the public engagement informed a report by the Attorney General with recommendations for the referendum. Read the report here.