Provincial Election

Voter Basics

Elections BC – http://www.elections.bc.ca/

Find out everything you need to know as a voter. There is also information about voter registration. Make sure you are registered before the election to be able to exercise your voting right.

BC Government and Legislative Assembly

Government of British Columbia – http://www.gov.bc.ca/

The BC government site has a wealth of information about the government structure and policies. You will find links to all the government departments, crown corporations, and agencies.

BC Legislative Assembly – http://www.leg.bc.ca/

What better place to learn more about the legislature than its own website. Find out more about your MLAs and what they do.

BC Political Parties

BC Liberals – http://www.bcliberals.com/

The Liberal party is the current governing party in BC.

BC New Democrats – http://www.bcndp.ca/

The NDP is the current opposition party in BC.

BC Green Party - http://www.greenparty.bc.ca/

The Green Party is the 3rd major party in BC.

Electoral Reform in BC

Electoral Reform Referendum Information Office – http://www.gov.bc.ca/referendum_info/

This is the BC Government site to provide information about the electoral reform referendum.

Maple Leaf Web – http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/electoral/citizen-assembly/index.html

The Maple Leaf Web has a special feature on electoral reform in BC. You can also read about electoral systems and reform.

Mock STV Elections and STV Counting Software

Simulated BC-STV – http://members.multimania.co.uk/bcstv/vote.php

This simulation uses a 5 member-riding that is formed by merging 5 original single-member ridings (4 candidates each). It shows (1) the results of each single-member riding using the current First-Past-the-Post System and (2) the results of the new 5-member riding using STV System (with 20 candidates due to the merging of the original ridings). In the STV counting process, you can see how candidates get elected and eliminated at each round of counting (as votes are being transferred). The results in (1) and (2) are different due to the transferability in STV.

Barrodale Computing Services (BCS) Simulation - http://www.barrodale.com/bcs/bc-stv-voting-simulation

BCS is a company that develops electoral software. You can stage your own simulated election using the online Java-based software or download a copy to run in your computer.

pSTV – http://www.openstv.org/

Another software can be downloaded to simulate STV. This site also explains the different types of STV and the rules that govern them.

eSTV – http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/votingsystems/estv.htm

This is a software developed in the UK for STV counting. It can be downloaded to run in your computer.

YES for BC-STV Sites

Yes for STV / Choice Voting - http://www.choicevoting.ca/

This is the main BC site that supports the proposed STV System.

STV for BC – http://stvforbcvoteyes.blogspot.com/

This is a blog that supports STV. However, there are lots of references (and links) to NO articles and opinions so that one can read the originals too.

Fair Voting BC – http://www.fairvotingbc.com/

This organization has campaigned for electoral reform in BC and was instrumental in the creation of the Citizens’ Assembly. It supports the STV system for BC.

NO for BC-STV Sites

Know STV – http://www.nostv.org/

Essentially a site representing the NO side.

Single Transferable Vote in BC – http://community.netidea.com/ccbc/singletransferablevote.htm

This site contains critical articles and useful links about BC-STV. Essentially a NO site.

Strategic Thoughts – Say No to STV – http://www.strategicthoughts.com/record2004/nostv.html

David Schreck, owner of strategicthoughts.com has written articles to say NO to the proposed STV system.

DeepCoveBC.com - http://www.deepcovebc.com/bccitizensassembly.html

A NO supporter explicitly revealing Green Party background and is in favour of MMP.

General Knowledge

Wikipedia

This famous online encyclopedia has articles on the 2005 BC Election and the STV System in general.

Election Almanac / Nodice.ca – BC Election -

http://www.electionalmanac.com/canada/britishcolumbia/

Nodice.ca is an independent website about both federal and provincial elections in Canada. The site gets its information from a variety of sources, including news articles (print, televised, or otherwise), party websites, candidates, as well as from information received through online contact forms. While the accuracy of the information received cannot be guaranteed, the majority of information is sourced before it is posted. The site is owned and operated by David MacDonald, a political science student and J. P. McCarthy Scholarship winner attending St. Francis Xavier University.

Fair Vote Canada – http://www.fairvote.ca/

FVC is a multi-partisan organization that promotes voting system reforms in Canada.

Electoral Systems Index – http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/es/topic_index

The ACE Project website has good introductory information on electoral systems, including the STV system.

International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance – http://www.idea.int/esd/world.cfm

IDEA’s site has information about the electoral system used in different countries, including STV (used in Ireland and Malta).

Yahoo Discussion Group on STV - http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/stv-voting/

Read the archived discussion messages online or subscribe to the Group’s email list.