Yukon government to hold referendum on electoral reform in 2025
CBC
The Yukon government says it will organize a territory-wide referendum on electoral reform.
Premier Ranj Pillai has asked Elections Yukon to oversee the vote, which would take place alongside the 2025 territorial election.
Residents will be asked to choose between the current system – first-past-the-post, where the candidate with the most votes in a riding is elected – or switch to a different one.
The move follows a recommendation from a citizen's assembly. After months of learning about various voting systems, the group of randomly-selected Yukon residents is advising the territory to switch to a ranked ballot system.
"Instead of just picking one person, you would have the choice to rank people in order of preference," said Micheal Pealow, an assembly member.
There are different models of the ranked ballot system, but in essence it means that if no candidate in a riding gets at least 50 per cent of ballots cast, voters' second or even third choices would be used to calculate the winner. Alaska adopted a ranked ballot system in 2020.
Voters in British Columbia defeated two separate referenda on ranked ballot voting in 2005 and 2009.
Proponents say the system encourages "sincere" rather than strategic voting.
"We got consensus around ranked vote very, very quickly," said Storri Chesson, another member of the citizen's assembly. "All of us agreed one hundred per cent that ranked vote was far superior to what we had."
John Streicker, speaking as a member of the territory's special legislative committee on electoral reform, said the decision to hold a referendum was straightforward.
"They worked hard to come up with what they thought would be best for Yukoners," Streicker said. "And if there's going to be a change to an electoral system here, it should be a decision of Yukoners to do that, through a referendum."
Streicker said the ranked ballot system makes sense.
"Political parties themselves use ranked ballots," he said. "That's the way we select candidates in the nomination process."
The decision comes ahead of the release of the citizen's assembly's formal report, which will be tabled during the next legislative session.
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