elections – Government Publications Blog

BC Municipal election rules may be about to change – particularly in regards to candidates’ expenses, campaign contributions and election advertising. The Local Government Elections Task Force has just wrapped up and submitted its report to the BC Government.

“The six-member Task Force was co-chaired by Bill Bennett, Minister of Community and Rural Development, and Harry Nyce, president of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM). It included two other UBCM executive members (with a third acting as alternate) and two provincial MLAs

The Task Force reviewed specific issues related to local government elections. Topics reviewed were:

Campaign finance, including contribution/spending disclosure and limits, and tax credits
Enforcement processes and outcomes
Role of the chief electoral officer (B.C.) in local government elections
Election cycle (term of office)
Corporate vote
Other agreed upon matters, (e.g. matters raised in UBCM resolutions such as eligibility of local government volunteers to be candidates)”

You can read the report here: http://www.localelectionstaskforce.gov.bc.ca/taskforce_report.html

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an international non-profit organization with a special focus on “science, engineering and innovation.” It also publishes the journal Science. AAAS has just launched a new database which has the lofty goal of providing fundamental information about “the accuracy, reliability and security of voting technologies, election administration” and more.

The database, formally known as the Research Database on the US Voting System and Voting Technology, “provides access to empirical and analytical research about voting and elections to inform evidence-based reforms. The database includes bibliographic information, abstracts and links to research covering a broad set of issues such as accessibility, ballot design, public confidence, voter demographics, voting technology, and voter registration.”

At present the database has approximately 500 entries – mostly published after 2000 – but is anticipated to swell greatly over time.