How do you feel about the AV system of voting?

[merc_man]

Personally I'm really not sure I want to put candidates in a series of preference. I want to vote for a single party and I have no interest in any other party governing. I would rank them equally awful (although admittedly the BNP would rank last).

I don't want to undersell the intelligence of the general populous but I foresee this change generating a whole mountain of spoilt ballot papers.

[Puggit]

It's fine in a constituency with 5 or fewer candidates - but in the constituencies where the Aunt Gertrude Progressive Knitters Party is standing along with 10 other crackpots...

I know you only need to rank the parties you wish to (thus no need to select AGPKP), but your average voter is thick - we already know that.

[AndrewW-G]

Nope, if I'm going to vote for a party, I dont want to have to vote for anybody else, Conservtive voters will get fked by having to choose either lib dem or UKIP (ignoring indies and BNP/Green)

[cs02rm0]

I don't like it. I think the voting should be kept as simple as possible, I'm not sure the lowest common denominator could cope with preference ranking, let alone understand the implications.

[king arthur]

I don't like it either. We can't even get our current system to work - each time there's a close result the recount produces a different figure. How the hell can we expect a more complex voting system to deliver accurate results?

[Justayellowbadge]

Just thinking aloud.

What would be the chances of the major parties creating 'B' teams? Torro Rossos, if you will.

These parties stand on similar manifestos, and request their voters to put them in second place, so as not to affect the main parties vote.

[ewenm]

I don't know enough about it. As there are so many different "proportional representation" ideas including AV, STV... I'll wait until any referenda on them before I devote any time to properly researching them.

[Eric Mc]

I don't know much about the AV system. I originally come from Ireland where the STV system is used so I am pretty familiar with that.

Edited by Eric Mc on Tuesday 11th May 12:04

[randlemarcus]

ewenm said:

I don't know enough about it. As there are so many different "proportional representation" ideas including AV, STV... I'll wait until any referenda on them before I devote any time to properly researching them.

Optimist. What happens if the Glorious Leader decides to give the Lib Dems PR without asking you?

[ewenm]

randlemarcus said:

ewenm said:

I don't know enough about it. As there are so many different "proportional representation" ideas including AV, STV... I'll wait until any referenda on them before I devote any time to properly researching them.

Optimist. What happens if the Glorious Leader decides to give the Lib Dems PR without asking you?

Pragmatist Then my opinion on the merits of each different system are even less relevant as they have no impact on any decision at all.

Edited by ewenm on Tuesday 11th May 12:08

[JacksHereR]

a web definition for the benefit of the comedians :

The Alternative Vote (AV) is very much like First-Past-the-Post (FPTP).

Like FPTP, it is used to elect representatives for single-member constituencies, except that rather than simply marking one solitary 'X' on the ballot paper, the voter has the chance to rank the candidates on offer.

The voter thus puts a '1' by their first-preference candidate, and can continue, if they wish, to put a '2' by their second-preference, and so on, until they don't care anymore or they run out of names. In some AV elections, such as most Australian elections, electors are required to rank all candidates.

If a candidate receives a majority of first-preference votes (more people put them as number one than all the rest combined), then they are elected.

If no candidate gains a majority on first preferences, then the second-preference votes of the candidate who finished last on the first count are redistributed.
This process is repeated until someone gets over 50 per cent.
AV is thus not a proportional system, and can in fact be more disproportional than FPTP.

[purplepolarbear]

Has anyone worked out how many seats each party would now have were AV being used?

[Devil2575]

I think it's a good idea.

It makes perfect sense to me and I don't think that the concept is diffucult to understand.
As for the stuff about lowest common denominators, well it works in other countries. Are you suggesting that the British are not as intelligent as people from other countries?

[ewenm]

purplepolarbear said:

Has anyone worked out how many seats each party would now have were AV being used?

You can't, we have no idea of who people would rank second favourite etc.

[merc_man]

Here's a link from the Daily Politics show to explain the system for those who haven't yet understood it. Has some estimates on how it would affect things.

Daily Politics Explanation

Another article with guesstimates Scotsman article

Edited by merc_man on Tuesday 11th May 12:29