To use the BC-STV simulation tool, click the button below:
Note: IF NO BUTTON APPEARS ABOVE THIS LINE, you may first need to install a Java2 plug-in (this applet has been tested with JRE 1.3.1 and 1.4.2) in your browser. This link provides information on downloading Java. IF NO BUTTON APPEARS AFTER THIS INSTALLATION, you should restart your browser, and possibly restart your computer.
To view questions that others have asked about the system and our answers, click here.
During the 2009 Provincial General Election, citizens of British Columbia were asked to choose between the current first-past-the-post electoral system and BC-STV, which is an electoral system recommended by the BC Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. In order for voters to make an informed choice, it was important that they become familiar beforehand with BC-STV. Although there were several informative websites* that described BC-STV, we were not aware of any website that allowed everyone, from lay people to political scientists, to simulate various outcomes based on diverse user-defined electoral scenarios (by specifying number of MLAs to be elected in a riding, number of voters, party affiliation, etc.). Barrodale Computing Services Ltd. (BCS) produced such a simulation tool, by programming the rules for BC-STV defined in the Citizens' Assembly Technical Report, which is referenced below.
BCS (see http://www.barrodale.com) is a British Columbia company that has extensive experience in developing electoral software. On this BC-STV simulation project (which was not funded by any outside agency), BCS collaborated with Dr. Anthony Quas, who at the time held a Canada Research Chair in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Victoria. Our primary goal in undertaking this project was to help fellow citizens familiarize themselves with BC-STV before casting their vote for its adoption or rejection.
Enjoy exploring BC-STV through use of this BCS simulation tool.
CONTACT BCS
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* http://www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/public is the website for the Citizens' Assembly, and they provide excellent animated demonstrations of BC-STV at http://www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/public/extra/animations.xml. A 271 page Technical Report is available at http://www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/resources/TechReport(full).pdf, and a brief technical description of how votes are counted in the BC-STV system is available at http://www.citizensassembly.bc.ca/resources/deliberation/BC-STV-counting.pdf.
BCSTV Voting Simulation
