1871 to present: Brief history of elections in B.C.

The first woman, Mary Ellen Smith, ran and was elected to office in a byelection in Vancouver in 1918. (Portrait of Smith from City of Vancouver Archives, taken in the 1920s)

From the province's first election in 1871 to recent referendum results, here's a timeline of electoral history from Elections BC:

1871: First general election in province of British Columbia for Legislative Assembly.

1873: Secret ballot introduced. Federal MPs disqualified from sitting as provincial MLAs. Plebiscite on increase in sessional allowances held – and defeated.

1874: Chinese and Aboriginal Peoples disenfranchised

1875: Provision made for absentee voting for 1875 only

1876: Property qualification for voting dropped

1878: School teachers prohibited from voting or campaigning, a decision overturned in 1883

1886: First Labour candidates

1890: Election deposit of $200 introduced. Reduced to $100 in 1906

1893: Persons residing in a provincial home are disqualified from voting

1895: Japanese disenfranchised

1899: Provincial civil servants disenfranchised, a decision repealed in 1900

1903: First general election along federal party lines

1904: Polling day declared a public holiday, electors to have four clear hours to vote

1907: Hindus disenfranchised

1916: Life of Legislative Assembly extended to five years, clergy no longer prohibited from running and sitting as MLAs

1917: Women get the right to vote

Nellie McClung is pictured. (National Archives of Canada/C.Jessop)

1918: The first woman to run, Mary Ellen Smith, is elected to office in a byelection in Vancouver in the first provincial election in which women can vote

1920: Election deposit eliminated; Ballots for Vancouver and Victoria to indicate political party or interest of each candidate; Absentee voting reintroduced and used in a general election; First election in which practicing clergy ran: Reverend Thomas Menzies (Comox) and Canon Joshua Hinchliffe (Victoria City). Both were elected.

1924: Both premier (John Oliver, pictured) and leader of the opposition (William John Bowser) defeated in general election

Portrait of John Oliver, premier from 1918 to 1927. (BC Archives)

1928: First Statement of Votes published

1929: No longer required to resign seat and run in by-election if appointed to Cabinet after general election

1931: Doukhobors disenfranchised

1934: Last election of a candidate by acclamation: Thomas King wins Columbia district byelection

1939: Persons residing in a provincial home are no longer disqualified from voting

1940: All ballots to state political party or interest of candidates; Public opinion polls ("straw votes") banned after writ of election issued; Candidacy in more than one riding prohibited; Position of registrar of voters created; Returning officers no longer required to proclaim "Oyez! oyez! oyez!" on election day

1945: Members of prohibited groups, if otherwise qualified, allowed to vote if they served in the First or Second World War

1947: Persons without an adequate knowledge of English or French are disqualified from voting; Position of chief electoral officer created and Frederick H. Hurley is appointed to the position in July; Central registry for voters’ lists established in Victoria; Prohibition against Chinese and Hindus removed; Canadian citizenship recognized as qualification to vote, in addition to being a British subject; Provision made for advance polling

1948: Mennonites and Hutterites no longer ineligible to vote

1949: Aboriginal Peoples and Japanese prohibition lifted; Advance polls and "section 80" voting used for first time in general election; Frank Calder, from the Nisga First Nation, ran and was elected to Legislature in general election

Portrait of Frank Calder, MLA from 1949 to 1979. (BC Archives)

1952: Alternative vote used for first time in general election; Voting age changed to 19; Doukhobor prohibition removed

1953: Alternative vote used for second and last time in general election; First-past-the-post pluralilty voting system reinstated

1956: First Chinese-Canadian to run for seat in Canadian legislature, PC candidate Douglas Jung, elected in Vancouver Centre byelection

1974: Candidates for public office required to file a written disclosure of financial and business interests

1975: First general election in which disclosure statements filed by the candidates

1977: Liquor sales allowed on election day

1979: Blind voters able to mark own ballots by means of templates

1982: Prohibition against public opinion polls repealed; Persons without an adequate knowledge of English or French are no longer disqualified from voting

1984: Permanent electoral commission established

1985: "British subject" dropped as qualification to vote; Persons detained in a provincial mental health facility or other mental institution by court authority are disqualified from voting

1986: Out-of-province absentee voting allowed; First Indo-Canadian to win a seat in a Canadian legislature, Moe Sihota, elected in Esquimalt

Former NDP cabinet minister Moe Sihota speaks to reporters after being elected British Columbia NDP president at their convention in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday November 29, 2009. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

1988: Persons who have been convicted of an indictable offence and have been released on probation or parole and are not in custody are no longer disqualified from voting; Number of seats increases from 69 to 75 on Royal Commission on Electoral Boundaries recommendation

1991: Royal Commission on Electoral Boundaries (Fisher) recommendations are implemented; First British Columbia general election held without multi-member electoral districts; Rita Johnson becomes the first female premier; Voters in the general election approve a referendum providing a mechanism to recall sitting Members and to bring citizen initiatives before the Legislature or to province-wide referendum.

1992: Voting age lowered from 19 to 18; Voting day registration restrictions lowered

1995: Elections BC becomes an independent office of the Legislature; The Recall and Initiative Act comes into force; Persons imprisoned in a penal institution serving a sentence of less than two years are no longer disqualified from voting; Persons detained in a provincial mental health facility or other mental institution by court authority are no longer disqualified from voting; Chief electoral officer and deputy disqualified from voting

1996: Chief electoral officer, Robert A. Patterson, unanimously recommended by a multi-party special committee of the Legislature

1997: First petitions to recall sitting MLAs are authorized under the Recall and Initiative Act, which are ultimately unsuccessful, failing to gather the required number of signatures set by the Act; First commission appointed under the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act chaired by Josiah Wood

1999:  Recommendations of the Electoral Boundaries Commission implemented by amendments to Electoral Districts Act, increasing number of seats from 75 to 79; First postal enumeration replaces the door-to-door canvassing process.

2000: First Indo-Canadian becomes premier, Vancouver's Ujjal Dosanjh, following resignation of Glen Clark; Supreme Court of British Columbia upholds challenge to Election Act limits on third party spending and publication of polling data

NDP leader Ujjal Dosanjh is officially sworn in as the 33rd Premier of British Columbia at a ceremony at Government House in Victoria, Thursday Feb 24, 2000. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld)

2001: Constitution (Fixed Election Dates) Amendment Act – to come into force by regulation – provides for fixed dates for general elections: second Tuesday in May in the fourth calendar year following the general voting day for the most recently held general election

2002: Charitable organizations no longer allowed to make political contributions; First referendum conducted entirely by mail-in ballot is held (Treaty Negotiations Referendum). Voting packages mailed to all registered voters automatically, and to previously unregistered voters upon request

2003: Amendment to the Election Act removes the requirement to conduct a general enumeration in May 2004, a full year before the general election in May 2005; Persons imprisoned in a penal institution serving a sentence longer than two years are no longer disqualified from voting

2004: Election Act amended to allow Elections BC to use federal voters list to update and add voters to the provincial voters list;. Provincial voters can register, update or confirm their voter registration online 24 hours a day on Elections BC’s website; British Columbia is the first jurisdiction in North America to offer fully automated internet voter registration

2005: British Columbia voters vote on two separate ballots: to choose elected representatives in the Legislature and to decide whether the province should adopt the BC-STV electoral system. Voters reject proportional representation, coming less than three per cent short of the required threshold of 60 per cent

2006: Three-member Electoral Boundaries Commission appointed under the Electoral Boundaries Commission Act

2008: Number of seats increased from 79 to 85, based on recommendations from the Electoral Boundaries Commission; Amendments to Election Act introduce series of provisions including: Requirement for voters to provide identification, permitting voter registration by telephone, extending advance voting hours to 12 hours per day, establishing election expenses limits for political parties and candidates during the 60 days before the start of a campaign period for a fixed-date general election, and establishing spending limits for third-party election advertising sponsors

2009: Voters again vote on whether the province should adopt BC-STV system, but only 39.09 per cent vote in favour and only eight districts have majority support, so the motion fails

2010: First successful initiative petition is conducted: More than 10 per cent of registered voters in every electoral district sign a petition to end the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST).

2011: HST referendum conducted by mail-in ballot is rejected by voters.

Former British Columbia premier Bill Vander Zalm, centre, is surrounded by media as he waits to board a ferry in Tsawwassen, B.C., on June 30, 2010, to deliver anti-HST petitions which contain more than 700,000 signatures to Elections B.C. in Victoria. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)

 

Source of timeline: Elections BC

Former British Columbia premier Bill Vander Zalm, centre, is surrounded by media as he waits to board a ferry in Tsawwassen, B.C., on June 30, 2010, to deliver anti-HST petitions which contain more than 700,000 signatures to Elections B.C. in Victoria. Former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm and his band of anti-HST crusaders have been forced to defend their tactics after spreading a "rumour" that the province is considering a cut to the harmonized sales tax. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck