Yukon government to hold referendum on electoral reform in 2025

The Yukon government says it will organize a territory-wide referendum on electoral reform. 

Premier Ranj Pillai has asked Elections Yukon to oversee the vote, which would take place alongside the 2025 territorial election. 

Residents will be asked to choose between the current system – first-past-the-post, where the candidate with the most votes in a riding is elected – or switch to a different one.

The move follows a recommendation from a citizen's assembly. After months of learning about various voting systems, the group of randomly-selected Yukon residents is advising the territory to switch to a ranked ballot system. 

"Instead of just picking one person, you would have the choice to rank people in order of preference," said Michael Pealow, an assembly member. 

There are different models of the ranked ballot system, but in essence it means that if no candidate in a riding gets at least 50 per cent of ballots cast, voters' second or even third choices would be used to calculate the winner. Alaska adopted a ranked ballot system in 2020.

Voters in British Columbia defeated two separate referenda on ranked ballot voting in 2005 and 2009.

Proponents say the system encourages "sincere" rather than strategic voting.

"We got consensus around ranked vote very, very quickly," said Storri Chesson, another member of the citizen's assembly. "All of us agreed one hundred per cent that ranked vote was far superior to what we had." 

John Streicker, speaking as a member of the territory's special legislative committee on electoral reform, said the  decision to hold a referendum was straightforward. 

"They worked hard to come up with what they thought would be best for Yukoners," Streicker said. "And if there's going to be a change to an electoral system here, it should be a decision of Yukoners to do that, through a referendum."

Streicker said the ranked ballot system makes sense. 

"Political parties themselves use ranked ballots," he said. "That's the way we select candidates in the nomination process." 

The decision comes ahead of the release of the citizen's assembly's formal report, which will be tabled during the next legislative session.

Chesson said she's thrilled to hear the announcement. 

"My worst fear was that we would do all this work, give up a chunk of our Yukon summer, and they would look at [the recommendation] and say 'thanks for your hard work, here's a fancy binder we've got, we're going to stick it in this binder and put it away on a shelf and never, ever speak of it again.' But that's not happening."

Looking back at the experience of serving on the citizen's assembly, Chesson says she "loved every minute." 

"Sometimes you get a little bit doubtful about humanity," she said. "You can see all the negativity and polarization. But in that room, we were such a diverse group, all with different opinions, but we came together, we listened to each other, we talked, we had our minds changed, we were open and curious…." 

"It just kind of restored my faith about what's possible when people with good intentions come together for a purpose. It was really inspiring, actually."