Does our current voting system make sense?
You decide, take this quiz and see if this is the kind of system you want.
Majority Rule
Since 1952, 15 of the 16 BC elections have produced majority governments (where the winners have at least 50% of the seats). Of these 15 majority governments, how many times has the leading party won 50% or more of the popular vote?
All the time
10 times
5 times
3 times
once
Obliterating the opposition
In BC's electoral experience, how much popular support does a party need to obliterate the opposition? (eg. to reduce the other party to two members so they lose their official party status)
97%
91%
79%
68%
58%
Popular support vs seat count
Over four successive elections between 1983 and 1996, a party steadily lost popular support. They started with 45% of the popular vote, then dropped to 43%, then to 41% and finally to 39% which was less than the other major party. Which of the following best describes the corresponding percentage of seats that party won in those elections?
45,43,41,39 (seats won matched popular vote)
51,45,34,25 (a steady drop)
68,52,39,32 (a steady drop)
52,68,32,39 (bounced up and down, but trended down)
39,32,68,52 (started in opposition, ended up with majorities)
Untitled Question
In BCs historical experience, if a party wins 40% of the vote, how many seats could they potentially win?
40% (seats won always correspond to votes won)
38-42% (very close to vote percentage)
35-45% (fairly close to vote percentage)
30-50% (quite variable)
20-70% (virtually no relationship between popular support and seats won)
The Usual Suspects
Which of the following most closely represents the average election outcome in BC?
35% popular vote and 45% seat share
46% popular vote and 66% seat share
52% popular vote and 52% seat share
52% popular vote and 66% seat share
61% popular vote and 61% seat share
Voter Change
In 2005, the Liberals won 46 of 77 seats on 46% of the vote. While, the NDP won 33 seats on 42% of the vote province-wide, the Liberals won 75,000 more votes than the NDP. How many voters would have to change thier vote from Liberal to NDP to give the NDP a majority?
150,000 (8%)
75,000 (4%)
37,500 (2%)
25,000 (1.3%)
1,300 (0.07%)
Support Threshold for Candidates
In the 2005 BC election, what was the lowest fraction of the vote that a winning candidate received?
50%
45.8%
41.2%
37.5%
26.7%
Option 6
Support Threshold for Government
In BCs electoral history, what is the lowest percentage of popular suppot a party has had and that still allowed them to win a majority government?
50%
46%
37.9%
31.3%
30.2%
Voter Voice
In BCs 2005 election, what percentage of the voters determined the outcome of the election?
100% (everyone's vote affects the outcome)
82%
67%
52%
36%