A sign outside the polling station at the Sternwheeler Hotel and Conference Centre. Photo Courtesy of Macklen Linke/CKRW.
Whitehorse, YT – Voters will receive two ballots during this year’s territorial election — one to elect their MLA and another to decide whether to keep Yukon’s current First-Past-the-Post system or switch to a ranked ballot.
Under the ranked system, voters rank candidates by preference. If no candidate wins over 50 per cent of the vote, the lowest-ranked candidate is eliminated and their votes redistributed until one candidate secures a majority.
The plebiscite follows recommendations from the all-party Special Committee on Electoral Reform and the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, which submitted their report last year. Premier Ranj Pillai has tasked Elections Yukon with managing the referendum.
Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon has criticized the process, saying the existing voting system is effective and the focus should remain on other priorities.
