The ministry of the Attorney General has picked two groups that will receive public money to advocate for and against adopting a new voting system in British Columbia.

Fair Voting B.C. and the No BC-STV Campaign Society will each receive $500,000 to campaign ahead of the May 12 referendum on whether to switch from our current first-past-the-post system to a Single Transferable Vote system where voters rank their preferences of people to represent them as MLAs.

Fair Voting B.C. is a grassroots organization affiliated with Fair Vote Canada, founded in 2001 to promote proportional representation. Former Green Party candidate Dan Grice is the lead organizer, according to the campaign website.

Communications consultant, writer and former NDP media director Bill Tieleman is the president of the No BC-STV group.

The government will also spend $500,000 on a neutral information office it is establishing within the Attorney General's ministry.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.