2016 Prince Edward Island electoral reform referendum
Okay kiddo, so you know how when we vote for things like who gets to be the captain of the playground, we usually just count who got the most votes and they win, right?
Well, sometimes people thought it might be better to have a different way of voting so that it's more fair and everyone's voice can be heard. That's what a referendum is - when grown-ups ask everyone in the province what they think about something.
In 2016, the grown-ups in Prince Edward Island wanted to know if the people who lived there wanted to change the way they voted in elections. Right now, they use something called a "first past the post" system where whoever gets the most votes in a riding (like a neighborhood) wins the seat in the government.
But some people were worried that this system wasn't really giving everyone a fair chance to have their voices heard. So, they asked if people wanted to change to a different system called "mixed-member proportional representation."
This new system would give voters more choices and make sure that a party's seats in government match how many votes they got all across the province.
But not everyone agreed that this was a good idea. Some people thought it would be too confusing, or that it would give too much power to smaller parties.
In the end, when all the kids and grown-ups went to vote in the referendum, they decided not to make the change. So, they'll keep on using the "first past the post" system for now. But who knows - maybe they'll try again someday to make the voting system even better!
Well, sometimes people thought it might be better to have a different way of voting so that it's more fair and everyone's voice can be heard. That's what a referendum is - when grown-ups ask everyone in the province what they think about something.
In 2016, the grown-ups in Prince Edward Island wanted to know if the people who lived there wanted to change the way they voted in elections. Right now, they use something called a "first past the post" system where whoever gets the most votes in a riding (like a neighborhood) wins the seat in the government.
But some people were worried that this system wasn't really giving everyone a fair chance to have their voices heard. So, they asked if people wanted to change to a different system called "mixed-member proportional representation."
This new system would give voters more choices and make sure that a party's seats in government match how many votes they got all across the province.
But not everyone agreed that this was a good idea. Some people thought it would be too confusing, or that it would give too much power to smaller parties.
In the end, when all the kids and grown-ups went to vote in the referendum, they decided not to make the change. So, they'll keep on using the "first past the post" system for now. But who knows - maybe they'll try again someday to make the voting system even better!