Self-indulgence

2011-05-04T11:35:00+01:00

I was thinking of twining about how hard my life was especially as I haven't been able to get my CoD on for the last two weeks due to the extended PSN outage. However I was reminded this morning that it's voting day tomorrow and given the current polling is rather disheartening for the Yes to AV camp I thought I'd tilt at a few more windmills. However my loyal readers are most likely bored stiff of me droning on about voting reform I thought I'd offer a video of some cute cats instead.

A lot of hysteria about has been spread about AV. Both sides have made rather exaggerated claims for what it can and can't do. It makes sense to keep things in perspective. AV is certainly not a proportional system. If it were I might be taking a different position as although proportional representation is desirable I have issues with the systems that ensure it. In fact the results it generates won't be too far different from what FPTP system generate now, although without polling on 2nd preferences it's hard to model. The only real change is that candidates who win their constituency races will have to gather a broader range of support, even if they are not first choice of every voter that eventually lends them their vote. It's a small change I think it makes for a better system. So I urge you if your eligible to vote in tomorrows referendum to vote Yes to AV.

That would be a psephological matter

2011-04-13T15:33:00+01:00

One of the most annoying aspects of our current electoral system is the issue of tactical voting. This is where voters feel compelled to vote for someone over their preferred candidate as otherwise someone they really don't want might sneak in thanks to the split vote. It's something that's sadly very common with the current First Past the Post system. You'll often hear politicians on election night discussing swings towards various candidates around various issues and it's all based on hearsay from the campaign trail. No one really knows why the voters voted for a particular person and there is much tea-leaf reading done by the psephologists in interpreting the results for a ward.

This for me is the principle reason I favour the proposed Alternative Vote which will be the subject of a referendum on the 5th of May.

Political parties are not one size fits all stereotypes - all of the main parties have a fairly broad coalition of views. Knowing the preference voting order of the voters will give a much greater insight into the nature of the electorate which can only be a good thing. We will no longer assume that all Tory voters are Eurosceptic social conservatives or supporting the LibDems implies you are a Labour refugee or the Labour party draws all it support from militant union membership. And by raising the bar an MP has to reach they will have to broaden their base and not just rely on there being slightly more of one set of voters than the other platforms.

I have to say so far neither of the campaigning groups has particularly impressed me although the No to AV campaign do seem to be edging ahead in the negative campaigning. However the electoral commission does do a good neutral booklet that explains how AV works without any spin either way. It's worth a read.

While I hope I've done my bit to convince you of the benefits of voting yes (feel free to comment if you want debate!) I do urge everyone who has the right to actually turn up and make their views known. These decisions are only made by those who turn up and if turnout is low it will be a long time before your views on the electoral system are canvassed again.

Alex's Adventures on the Infobahn - av

Self-indulgence

That would be a psephological matter