One week from today on May 12th, British Columbians will vote on whether or not to change their voting system from the antiquated and inadequate first past the post to the improved Single Transferable Vote. The new voting system was designed by citizens and benefits voters. It’s simple to use (you get to rank candidates in order of preference instead of marking an X for only one candidate) and produces fairer results (STV is a form of proportional representation, meaning that the percentage of votes a party gets will be close to the percentage of seats they get).

If you care about fair voting and democracy anywhere in Canada, I urge you to support STV through a donation or by volunteering. The vote is winnable, but it will be very close since the frightened B.C. government has required an undemocratic 60% threshold for the proposal to pass. (Last time B.C. voted on this proposal it received 58% approval.) If the referendum fails, it will be the last one Canada gets for awhile.