Shoni Field: Doing it for the kids…

Here's a Mother's Day thought from Citizens' Assembly alumna Shoni Field, who has been one of our highest-profile advocates for the adoption of BC-STV.  

Spending the morning with my kids, and all I want on mother’s day is a democracy they feel is worth participating in. Watching the rates of 18-30 year old voters nosedive election after election, I wonder who will be left voting when my son is eligible to vote?

Lets not fool ourselves that this is something young people will “grow out of”. Its well documented that if you don’t vote in your first election you are far less likely to ever vote. What’s left of democracy after everybody has opted out? But here’s the best case I can make for voting in our current system: every four years you make a mark on a paper, in all likelihood you live in a ‘safe’ seat and everybody already knows who your MLA will be –50-60% of you will not elect anybody with your vote.

Even if you did elect somebody they can’t do much for you since they are bound by
party discipline. And who are the political parties looking after? The 10-15% of swing voters, in the 25% of seats that will actually be in play in the next election. Hardly a compelling case. 74% of young people support BC-STV. We need BC-STV for our children, our grandchildren. Or if you’re a young voter yourself, for your peers.. Lets make voting worthwhile again. Vote BC-STV.