AV voting system complex or what!!

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!!

campaign update!!

Well we are now into April and only one month from now will be polling day, so as you can imagine the election campaign is now in full swing!!

The nominations for council are now closed so i can now reveal for mendip district council that there are six of us standing for two seats in my ward of st Thomas, wells. That includes myself and my other Conservative co-candidate Simon Davies who currently serving his country on deployment to help out with the libyan difficulties at the NATO command centre in North london. This is only a tempory deployement so will be back soon to represent his people of Wells which he has done so brillantly in the past.

We also have the two current lib dem councillors restanding and a labour and green party candidates confirmed!!

During my sessions of knocking on doors, which I have had many excellent responses from residents have raised a number of good local issues including local supermarket proposed developments, car parking in the city. and local building work. On top of that I have also hap people interested in the national voting referendum happening on the same day as local elections.

I very much hope I will have a chance to represent these great locals on the city and district council soon!!

Wells a great place to visit!!

Perhaps with the typical British weather many of us brits choose to travel abroad for our annual holiday; because of this how much do we really value what is on our doorstep to visit here in Britain. For those of us that our lucky enough to live in the great city of wells where we have a lot here just in walking distance.

Wells is also a great place to visit for those people on the British tourism trail as being the smallest city in England we have an amazing cathedral and bishop’s palace to explore. Not only is that but wells also host to the oldest complete inhabited street in Europe dating back to the eleventh century.

So wells have an amazing history and a lot of this is documented/exhibited in our local museum just of the cathedral green. And the museum today was the venue for a visit from John Penrose MP and minister for tourism, who is very interested in improving the promotion of England as a great place to visit.

Myself pictured with John Penrose MP (minister for tourism), Harvey siggs (Leader of mendip district council) and other council candidates outside Wells musuem. 

As a person of a younger generation myself I can greatly see the huge benefits of excellent modern communication technique’s (the web) in marketing our City. For most people these days the web is the number one destination for finding a wide range of information. It is why should I be elected to serve as a district and city councillor in the city I will support and encourage any scheme that improves our city’s online presence.

After all Tourism is a known factor in boosting the local economy providing jobs for the locals. Tourism can already be seen as doing this in the city by the vast amount of coffee shops in the city that are always busy even more so in the summer!!