alternative vote

[cmonstanley]

the referendem for the alternative vote is on the fith of may whats everybodies view. do you think it is a good idea,will it work ?

[cmonstanley]

The Alternative Vote (AV) System

[katex]

Afraid I would only vote for the one candidate I prefer ... would be very focused on this. No intention of putting Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss 'wasteofspace' in second/third or fourth choice.

[lancsdave]

I'll be voting for it. If a seat is being contested by 2 people then fair enough the person with the majority of votes is the winner. However if more than 2 people are standing it's fairly common that the winner with the most votes does not actually have the majority of the votes.

[cashman]

i put won't vote,cos no faith in any of the parties, but if i was compelled to choose would be remain as is,

[Eric]

If I were still there, I would vote "yes". We have the same sorta debate going on here. It's going to be a hard sell to the voters, most of whom are set in their political ways. But it will, I believe, go someway to addressing the problem of having majority governments elected by a minority of the voters.

[steeljack]

I'd vote for a butchers dog if I thought it would get rid of the system we have here , once in, they are in for life or until they quit , incumbants have an over 85% chance of being re-elected, what with gerrymandering to 'create' safe seats and no spending caps our system sucks.

[jaysay]

My feelings on this are exactly the same as Kate, I would only be voting for one candidate, as I'm sure others would as well

[Ken Moss]

My own personal feelings on this are very much to stick with what we have until someone persuades me that arbitrarily turning losers into winners is a good idea.

I have a feeling that this will become a real hot potato for politicians in the coming weeks.

[Wynonie Harris]

If I vote, I'll opt to keep the present system, but it's hardly the most burning issue of the day in the eyes of the public, is it? When talk turns to politics in pubs or at work, how often do you hear it discussed? The whole thing is just the Tories' way of keeping the LibDems on side in their present economic programme.

Why don't they have a referendum on something that concerns the public more like membership of the EU? Because all politicians, Tory, Labour and LibDems are scared that the public might give the "wrong" answer. Democracy? You must be joking!

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

My own personal feelings on this are very much to stick with what we have until someone persuades me that arbitrarily turning losers into winners is a good idea.

I have a feeling that this will become a real hot potato for politicians in the coming weeks.

My thoughts entirely Ken except your last statement, don't think people will be that bothered really, as I don't think it will increase the turnout at the polling stations on May 5th

[Barrie Yates]

I suspect that with AV/Google Page Ranking, or whatever alternative to the present system is proposed, then we would see a whole load of losers being elected.
The LibDems have always supported Google Page Ranking because it is the only way they can get any useful number of MPs, but even with that they are only ever likely to be a prostitution party - willing to sell themselves to whichever of the two main parties promise them the most power.
Is the current system really broke? If it ain't broke, don't try and fix it!

[Ken Moss]

Originally Posted by jaysay

My thoughts entirely Ken except your last statement, don't think people will be that bothered really, as I don't think it will increase the turnout at the polling stations on May 5th

I was meaning more between themselves as there are bound to be party splits on this. My own stance would appear to be different to Ed Milliband, for example. As far as the general public are concerned, less than half actually vote in elections and I would imagine that many people don't fully understand what AV entails.

The situation we are in nationally is potentially what we could get countrywide - people in power that fewer people voted for and it smacks to me of a back door way for runners up to gain control. If someone gets more votes than someone else, however small the numbers or however narrow the margin, then they should win in my opinion.

[Tealeaf]

i wanted to vote 'Yes' as my first preference and 'No' as my second preference but unfortunately the present system does not allow it.

[katex]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

i wanted to vote 'Yes' as my first preference and 'No' as my second preference but unfortunately the present system does not allow it.

Very good, Tealeaf ..