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British Columbians are strongly in favour of an electoral system that better represents the intentions of voters and they might well have voted for one, according to a post-mortem poll

Voters strongly rejected pro-rep in the mail-in referendum, but a simpler question could have gone the other way.

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When pollster Research Co. asked respondents whether they favour a system to better reflect the diversity of political views designed by an independent panel, 41 per cent favoured pro-rep while 36 per cent supported the current first past the post system.

“We do see a lot of people saying, yes, we want a fairer system, yes, make sure the number of votes accurately represents the number of seats,” said Research Co. president Mario Canseco. “But when you look at how they voted, they didn’t like the process and they were confused by the options in the second question.”

A majority of respondents also favour reforms such as more choice among candidates, MLAs being elected in close proportion to electoral results in each region and vote transfers so minority votes aren’t ignored.