N.B. commission recommends lowering voting age, letting some non-citizens vote
FREDERICTON — Voting at 16 years old. Giving some non-citizens the vote. A preferential ballot.
New Brunswick’s Commission on Electoral Reform issued 24 sweeping recommendations Friday to the way people vote in the province.
One commission member suggested a preferential ballot could be in place by next year’s election, but Premier Brian Gallant said he won’t make major reforms without first putting it to a referendum or seeking a mandate from voters in an election.
Under a preferential ballot, voters choose their favourite candidate and then rank their second, third, and further choices. Those choices would come into play if no one was able to get 51 per cent of the vote on the first ballot.