A sign outside the polling station at the Sternwheeler Hotel and Conference Centre. Photo Courtesy of Macklen Linke/CKRW.
Whitehorse, YT – To change or not to change? That’s the question facing voters alongside this year’s territorial election.
Along with a regular ballot, voters will answer, “Should the way members of the Yukon Legislative Assembly are elected be changed from the current first past the post to a different system of ranked vote?”
This follows lengthy work to determine the exact wording of the question, which was announced yesterday.
Under ranked voting, voters rank candidates in order of preference instead of choosing one, with the winning candidate requiring 50 percent of the votes plus one.
The current first-past-the-post system awards the seat to the candidate with the most votes, even without a majority.
The plebiscite will be non-binding and is intended to gauge public opinion on electoral reform before any decisions are made. Elections Yukon will run the vote and provide neutral information on the two voting systems.
The territorial election must be held by Nov. 3 but could be called earlier.
