How prepared are you to vote in the 2009 May 12th electoral reform referendum?
Click here for a quick questionnaire about the referendum question and the what, why, and who of it.

For answers, click here
 or scroll to bottom of this page
or check the questionnaire's lower right side.

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High School Curriculum Materials for
Conducting Mock BC-STV Elections

by
Jennie Milligan and Eli Walker - University of Victoria law students
Wendy Bergerud and David Wills - B.C. Citizens' Assembly for Electoral Reform alumni
Nick Loenen - former politician, co-founder Fair Voting BC, pizza poll contributor
Brenda Guiled - M.Ed., coordinating editor

Table of Contents

Curriculum outline to print for display in class

1. Become familiar with the background information and references provided
2. Learn a bit about British Columbia electoral reform
3. Learn a few basics about British Columbia elections
4. Why BC-STV? How does it work?
5. Conduct a mock FPTP and BC-STV election
     5.1. In-class practice
     5.2. Realistic mock election at a public gathering
6. Troubleshooting

Resources Sheet - for a quick overview, with lots of links to handy websites

Entire curriculum for printing

This is a program for teaching high school students about:

  • the made-for-British-Columbia form of electing provincial politicians by the Single Transferable Vote system, or BC-STV;
  • in comparison to the current First Past the Post, or FPTP, system; and
  • how to conduct these kinds of elections as an in-class pizza-ordering exercise and at public gatherings using realistic mock ballots.

This package contains:

  • background materials and references from public sources;
  • a one-page curriculum overview;
  • introduction to British Columbia electoral reform;
  • introduction to BC-STV election basics;
  • in-class practice election instruction and materials;
  • realistic mock election instructions and materials for a public gathering;
  • templates for making mock ballots and for tallying the vote for the above;
  • instructions for conducting two levels of mock BC-STV elections and matching FPTP exercises;
  • instructions for doing these entirely by hand and/or by using a website and its programs;
  • troubleshooting advice and sources.

Time requirements:

  • one class for background information, introduction of terms and concepts, outline of B.C.'s present electoral system and how the BC-STV referendum came about;
  • one class to conduct an in-class mock BC-STV election;
  • one class to conduct a more realistic in-class mock BC-STV election;
  • several classes or extracurricular hours to plan and conduct a region-specific, real-candidate, mock BC-STV election for public participation.

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Answers: 1b, 2c, 3b, 4a, 5b, 6d, 7b, 8a