With the AV referendum taking place in under three weeks I would like to share with my blog readers the official electoral commission guidelines of both first past the post voting system (FPTP) and the Alternative Vote (AV) so you can see for yourself the complexities of AV from an independent organisation.
Both these guidelines have been directly taken from the booklet from the electoral commission sent to all your homes.
The guideline of our current voting system (FPTP)
“Voting
You vote for one candidate using a cross (X). You must only mark one cross against one candidate.
Counting
The votes for each candidate are put into a pile and counted. The candidate with the most votes wins”
The guideline for the proposed voting system (AV)
“Voting
You use numbers to rank the candidates in order of your preference. You put 1 next to your first choice, 2 next to your second choice, 3 next to your third choice and so on.
You can choose how many candidates to rank. You don’t have to rank every candidate. As long as you rank at least one, your vote will be counted.
Counting
Round one
• The number 1 votes for each candidate are put into a pile and counted.
• If a candidate receives more than half the number 1 votes cast, they win and there is no further counting.
• If no candidate receives more than half the number 1 votes there would be at least one more round of counting.
Round two
• The candidate with the fewest number 1 votes is removed from the contest – in this case Candidate D.
• Each ballot paper on Candidate D’s pile is looked at again.
• If the ballot paper shows a number 2 vote for another candidate, it is added to that candidate’s pile. For example, if a ballot paper showed a number 1 vote for Candidate D and a number 2 vote for Candidate B, it would be moved to Candidate B’s pile.
• If the ballot paper does not show a number 2 vote, it is no longer used.
Round three
• Again, the candidate with fewest votes is removed from the contest – this time it’s Candidate C.
• Each ballot paper on Candidate C’s pile is looked at again to see if any of the remaining candidates are ranked.
• If so, the ballot paper is moved to the pile of the candidate ranked highest on that ballot paper.
• If none of the remaining candidates are ranked the ballot paper is no longer used.
• If more candidates are involved, this process can be repeated until one candidate has more than half the remaining votes.
• Because voters don’t have to rank all of the candidates, an election can be won under the ‘alternative vote’ system with less than half the total votes cast.”
At a time when we are struggling with voter apathy in this country, I really think it is inappropriate to make the way we vote more complex. Surely it is simple and more democratic to stick with the current voting system of one person one vote!!
