In 4 days BC votes on the provin­cial gov­ern­ment, and more impor­tantly on whether to become the first major juris­dic­tion in North America to bring in a pro­por­tional rep­re­sen­ta­tion voting system.

I have the same wor­ries about pro­por­tional rep­re­sen­ta­tion that I’ve always had — de-​​localizing pol­i­tics, reducing the trans­parency and hence account­ability of the voting mech­a­nism. The Single Transferable Vote system pro­posed mit­i­gates the de-​​localization con­cern sub­stan­tially, but def­i­nitely makes my head hurt when I try to imagine how exactly a given set of marks on a ballot would trans­late into some­body get­ting elected or not.

That said, I still have the same hopes for a pro­por­tional rep­re­sen­ta­tion system: the de-​​dumbing-​​down of pol­i­tics, elim­i­nating the lowest common denom­i­nator and forcing us to actively and openly nego­tiate mul­tiple, openly expressed values to reach work­able polit­ical com­pro­mise. Enfranchisement of non-​​centrist views, maybe even a gen­eral re-​​engagement with pol­i­tics. First-​​past-​​the-​​post is just a ridicu­lous way to vote.

So I’ll be voting for STV with bells on. I’m looking for­ward to it. If you’re still on the fence, you could go to the pro-​​STV people and watch their videos, or the anti-​​STV cam­paign and watch theirs. But what I really rec­om­mend is to watch the video that first got me inter­ested in pro­por­tional rep­re­sen­ta­tion. Here it is: John Cleese on why 1980s Britain should really con­sider pro­por­tional representation.

Basically the same system, basi­cally the same con­ver­sa­tion, 20 years later. But I think this time we’re going to do it.