In fall 2018, British Columbians have an opportunity to decide whether B.C. should keep its current voting system (First Past the Post) or move to a system of proportional representation.

Following record participation in the citizen engagement process, which ran from November 2017 to February 2018, Attorney General David Eby released a report on May 30, 2018 with 18 recommendations to Cabinet for how the referendum should be conducted. On June 7, 2018, Premier Horgan announced that Cabinet accepted the Attorney General’s recommendations.

Read the report (PDF)

Data tables from the survey:

• Data from online How We Vote questionnaire
• Data from demographically balanced Ipsos panel questionnaire

A regulation with rules for how the referendum will be conducted is now in force. The referendum campaign period begins July 1, 2018. British Columbians will receive their voting packages from Elections BC starting on October 22, 2018, and will have until November 30, 2018, to vote in the referendum.

Read the text of the regulation here

Elections BC, the province’s independent elections administration agency, will administer the referendum. Additional information will be issued by Elections BC on an ongoing basis throughout the referendum campaign period, including how to apply to be the proponent or opponent group and how to register as a referendum advertising sponsor. In addition to providing information about voting in the referendum, Elections BC will also provide neutral information to the public about the voting systems on the ballot.

For more information, visit Elections BC.