More Manitobans would vote under proportional representation, report suggests

More Manitobans would be likely to make the effort to vote if the province adopted proportional representation, says a report released by Elections Manitoba.

The report by Prairie Research Associates examined the 57 per cent voter turnout in last April's provincial election and the reasons why many people didn't bother.

About half of the non-voters surveyed said they would be more likely to cast a ballot under proportional representation, in which legislature seats are awarded to reflect the percentage of votes each party receives.

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The current first-past-the-post system used across Canada is seen as making some votes less valuable, the report states.

"This research suggests that non-voters (whether persistent or irregular) would be more likely to vote if the system more closely reflected the proportion of votes cast and if voting were more convenient.

"There is a feeling that some votes are less valued under the current system since they are not reflected proportionally in terms of seats awarded."

Other reasons people cited for avoiding the ballot box included a distrust of politicians and inconvenient voting hours and locations.

Voter turnout in this year's election was similar to that in 2007 and up three percentage points from 2003. The report notes a concern that non-voters tend to be younger.

"Non-voting in one election reinforces the decision not to vote in the next. The worry is that the growing number of young adults not voting will result in more of these young adults remaining non-voters throughout their life."

Former Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger announced plans last year for an all-party review of the province's electoral system, but months later his NDP government was voted out of office. The committee never came to fruition.

Premier Brian Pallister said Tuesday he has no plans to revive Selinger's review.

"It's not a big priority ... we can only focus on so many things," he said.

The federal government is currently examining electoral reform, and an all-party committee is expected to issue its findings in December.

Pallister said he is watching the federal process with interest.

"I'm a big believer in deliberative democracy, so I like the idea of people debating issues ... It would be inconsistent for me to say that I don't think this is a productive exercise.

"It's also been my experience that, politically, these kinds of initiatives tend to have an interesting bias. Very often, the people engaged in these processes want an outcome which benefits their political leaning, and so the discussions often take that form."

The Elections Manitoba survey involved 400 non-voters and 400 voters. It was conducted between May 29 and July 12 via telephone and an online panel.