Vancouver is holding a referendum today. On the ballot: whether to move to a ward system for electing local councillors.
The case for supporting wards seems so utterly compelling to me that it’s unimaginable people would vote against it. But the existing system works well for the folks who traditionally hold power in Vancouver, and they’ve been advertising against it.
Enough people don’t even know that there is a referendum on that turnout could be quite low. And despite the fact that Vancouver has voted several times in favour of a ward system, we could actually lose this time… and that would probably bury our chances of a more democratic electoral system in this city for years to come.
For the record, two arguments:
One: The at-large system rewards people with a lot of money behind them — and doubles the power of money since wealthier neighbourhoods have much higher turnouts than poorer ones. That’s a recipe for a monopoly by the party who speaks for those voices, and that’s exactly what the NPA has had (except for those rare occasions, like the last election, when you get a perfect storm: an incompetent NPA campaign, a solid COPE campaign and a really salient issue like drug addiction).
Two: Wards are more representative. In an at-large system, only people with big party machines behind them stand more than a snowball’s chance. And since people so often vote for candidates as a bloc, we get councils that are nearly all NPA or, as this time, nearly all COPE — in a city that’s far more diverse than that.
Find your nearest polling place here, then grab two pieces of ID (one with your address on it) and head there now.
Right now. The blog will still be here when you get back.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Get more info here. Thanks!
