2005 Voter Interest

What caused the voting Citizens of British Columbia to be so interested in the 2005 election that made over 93% of the eligible voters to actually register to vote?

The biggest issue of the day was the news of the Citizens' Assembly of Electoral Reform (BC) and the work they had been doing for the past year and the Assembly's recommendation of the BC-STV as our new ELECTORAL SYSTEM.

The Citizens' Assembly itself was a big hit with the general Citizenship. A real and functioning form of DEMOCRACY in action. Not POLITICIANS OR POLITICAL SCIENTIST, but actual CITIZENS making democracy work. This Assembly was truly inspiring for the average CITIZEN. 

There was the normal opposition to ELECTORAL REFORM but most of this was reduced to saying that it was a big sham, what do normal people know about democracy, to let the experts do it. When the BC-STV was recommended their biggest complaint was to say that the BC-STV was too complicated for the average voter. It boiled down to insulting the general CITIZENSHIP. I think the opposition did more to promote the Assembly and BC-STV than anything else.

This issue was the driving force for the CITIZENS of British Columbia to become inspired and become active in our 2005 general elections and the referendum of the BC-STV.

I know I became very excited about the possibilities that this election presented. I did not think that the referendum would actually pass. I thought we might be able to reach the 60% mark of the Popular Vote that was needed, but I did not think we would manage to get the majority of Electoral Districts to pass it. I believed the province is too politically polarized. That because this whole ELECTORAL REFORM was Mr. Campbell's inspiration the NDP would be completely opposed and the Districts the NDP hold would vote against.

The actual outcome of the referendum was surprising for a number of reason that I will discuss here in another post.