Majority of B.C. residents want mandatory voting, survey finds

Most British Columbians support mandatory voting, according to a new survey.

With voter turnout in B.C. on the decline for decades, last reaching 70 per cent 25 years ago, many in the province want to see action to turn that trend around.

In fact, a poll out Thursday from Research Co. shows 61 per cent of those surveyed support mandatory voting, similar to the rules in place in Australia.

Fifty-six per cent want elections returned to the month of May, and 54 per cent want public holidays on voting days. The same poll found 77 per cent want to see candidates required to take part in at least one debate.

Meanwhile, 65 per cent of those surveyed said say they’re satisfied with the current first-past-the-post system.

“This is actually very interesting because it’s coming at the heels of (one of) the closest elections we’ve had – and also a very close federal election,” said Research Co.’s Mario Canseco.

Still nearly half say they’d actually prefer proportional representation – a system favoured in much of Europe, and one that would see province-wide vote percentages reflect the number of seats elected per party.

UBC political scientist Stewart Prest said a change to proportional representation would blunt the concerns about vote splitting.

Those worries can lead to “some dysfunctional politics at times,” said Prest.

“Most spectacularly, we had the B.C. United simply give up,” he added, of the party’s capitulation to the B.C. Conservatives last year.

Proportional representation has been voted on in multiple referendums, and failed each time – including when then-premier John Horgan tried to make it sound hip in 2018, during a debate ahead of a referendum on the issue.

“If you were woke, you’d know pro rep is lit,” he famously quipped.

As for expanding voting rights, only 37 per cent of those surveyed by Research Co. favour lowering the voting age like they did in the U.K.

B.C. Green Party MLA Rob Botterell is on an all-party committee looking into potential changes to improve the province’s democratic system. “When you look at what’s happening south of the border, you say it’s always the right time to be strengthening our institutions,” he said Thursday.

Friday at 2 p.m. is the deadline for British Columbians who wish to submit written submissions to the committee. The committee’s finding’s will be reported to the legislature by this December.

Research Co.’s survey was conducted online from July 13 to 15 among 814 adults in B.C., and the results were statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.