MLA Dan Davies – Weekly Column – Advanced Polling

This is it! Peace River North’s final push to get your ballots in! Due to the recent rotating strikes by Canada Post workers, Elections BC has extended the deadline to mail in your referendum ballot to December 7th. The original deadline was November 30th but keep in mind that your ballot has to be in the hands of Elections BC by 4:30 pm on December 7th, so mail it in absolutely no later than this Friday, November 30th.

Alternatively, and preferably, you can drop off your ballot directly at any Service BC Centre by the new deadline. If you have not received your ballot or requested one by mail and it has not come in, you can go to Service BC and have them print you a new one right up until the new deadline!

Overall the participation in the referendum has been rather disappointing. As of November 26th, it’s been estimated that less than a third of eligible voters have submitted a ballot and only 26.2 percent have been officially processed. In our region, Peace River North is voting pretty much along the same lines as the provincial average at 26.9 percent, with Peace River South being just a little more at 27.4 percent.

If public polls are to be believed, the public is evenly split on keeping our current voting system or adopting some form of proportional representation. It also appears to be split along generational lines too, with those older than 55 being more likely to keep our current system as opposed to those 18 to 34 who overwhelmingly want change.

Either way, we are facing a situation in which only a third of eligible voters will decide the outcome. This means a few of 15 or 16 percent of British Columbians could determine the way we elect a government in our province for generations.

If you still haven’t voted, I encourage everyone to send in their ballot regardless of which system you support. This is your opportunity to vote in one of the most important matters to BC voters in decades and it is important we have a good showing!