UK Voters

Post by **Raveen** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 8:33 am

As UK voters are no doubt aware there is an upcoming referendum on how we elect our government.

The current system of first past the post does not require a candidate to get a majority of votes, just to get more votes than any other candidate. If we only had two parties that would sort of work although the government would not necessarily match the votes of the whole country. As it is we have two large parties and a number of smaller parties including the Lib Dems, SNP, Plaid and so on. The upshot of this is that the votes in any one constituency get split three or more ways and the elected MP is almost certainly someone who the majority of voters did not want.

The system being proposed is Alternative Vote. This is a bad system IMO but it's a definite improvement over the existing system. Instead of just voting for one candidate you can list as many, or as few, as you would like in order of preference. When the votes are counted, assuming that no candidate achieves 50% of the vote, the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and those votes are redistributed to the second choice candidates. If a vote doesn't have a second choice candidate then those votes are eliminated from the total required to win. This process is run again, eliminating a different candidate each time, until one candidate has accumulated 50% of the votes remaining.

It's a more complicated system than the first past the post system but it does give results that more accurately reflect the wishes of the electorate. Currently there are 'wasted votes' where you vote for a candidate that has no chance of winning. This leads to tactical voting from some voters and means that the final result doesn't even reflect the initial wishes of the voters making it hard to tell what people actually wanted.

AV will hopefully force candidates to build some sort of consensus within their constituencies. They will have to appeal outside their core support and appeal to the wider population. This can only be a good thing IMO.

So I say vote yes for a better, if not actually all that good, electoral system.

notjarvis · Post by **notjarvis** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 8:47 am

+1
I agree with all the above.

Broodwich · Post by **Broodwich** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:19 am

have you tried the electoral college?

Post by **Raveen** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:20 am

We don't, as a country, elect any individuals so there'd be no use for an electoral college even if it wasn't a chronically outdated and undemocratic system.

Dorjan · Post by **Dorjan** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:30 am

I know about it, when is the vote taking place? My lady "organises" the post and I would think anything about that sort of thing would be thrown away.

She does have a raisin for a brain after all.

notjarvis · Post by **notjarvis** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:31 am

Dorjan wrote:QUOTE (Dorjan @ Apr 6 2011, 10:30 AM) I know about it, when is the vote taking place? My lady "organises" the post and I would think anything about that sort of thing would be thrown away.

She does have a raisin for a brain after all.

5th may

My polling cards arrived t'other day.

Dorjan · Post by **Dorjan** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:38 am

notjarvis wrote:QUOTE (notjarvis @ Apr 6 2011, 09:31 AM) 5th may

My polling cards arrived t'other day.

Cheers.

I'll check at home and make sure they're not thrown away >.>

madpeople · Post by **madpeople** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:44 am

http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/Default.aspx

Will comment later, no time now

DasSmiter · Post by **DasSmiter** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:54 am

Not to get into a giant discussion about america stuff in this bright and shining example of a post apocalyptic British political thread, but the electoral college is a giant piece of dook that needs to be thrown out with the last set of wooden teeth.

Adept · Post by **Adept** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:02 am

DasSmiter should be a senator. I want to see his speeches quoted in the international news

Raveen is definitely on to something. Even if the resulting system is just a step in the right direction, it will also erode the two party system, and hopefully lead to better systems in the future.