To the editor:
Re: "Independent candidates vie for school board," Nov. 11.
It's true that not a single independent candidate was elected to the school board last time. Nor to the park board.
Nor to city council. In fact, it's been 21 years since Carole Taylor won a seat on council as an independent. Why is this? The foremost reason is that Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»uses a highly unrepresentative voting system called at-large block voting that tends to deliver near-sweeps to the largest block of voters (typically only about
35 to 40 per cent of them).
Even a large group of voters, such as NPA supporters in the last election, may be virtually shut out.
It needn't be this way. There are many alternative ways to vote that ensure that voters get the representatives they vote for. That's why Fair Voting BC is delighted that candidates from all parties have promised to ask the provincial government a third time to give Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»the power to choose a better way to vote.
Antony Hodgson, President, Fair Voting BC
