AV referendum

thescouselander

So will voters be forced to rank everyone or can you leave some candidates unranked?

Le_Chuck

thescouselander wrote: »

So will voters be forced to rank everyone or can you leave some candidates unranked?

if you want you can only vote for 1. If every voter did this, you'd still effectively have FPTP

Le_Chuck

Of course the great irony about this, is that no one actually wants AV & that its the 2nd preference

denvore

thescouselander wrote: »

So will voters be forced to rank everyone or can you leave some candidates unranked?

You can rank as many or as few candidates as you wish.

phunkeymonkey

There are many pros to using AV.

For example:
Imagine an election in an area where the hot topic is whether or not to close a hospital.

Candidate 1 runs with the pledge "Lets close the hospital"
Candidate 2 runs with the pledge "Lets keep the hospital open and dress the nurses in white"
Candidate 3 runs with the pledge "Lets keep the hospital open and dress the nurses in blue"

If the results were:
Candidate 1 - 35%
Candidate 2 - 32%
Candidate 3 - 33%

Then under FPTP candidate 1 would win, even though the majority wanted to keep the hospital open. Under AV people could indicate the intentions of their preferences and the split vote would not be able to spoil the election.

Despite this though, I'm still unsure which way to vote.

treliac

I'm not convinced of a need to change. And it would be more complicated to operate and more costly. That's enough for me to vote 'No'.

Loughton_Monkey

thescouselander wrote: »

So will voters be forced to rank everyone or can you leave some candidates unranked?

That's right.

It turns the complete electorate into a bunch of 'rankers'.

chewmylegoff

phunkeymonkey wrote: »

There are many pros to using AV.

For example:
Imagine an election in an area where the hot topic is whether or not to close a hospital.

Candidate 1 runs with the pledge "Lets close the hospital"
Candidate 2 runs with the pledge "Lets keep the hospital open and dress the nurses in white"
Candidate 3 runs with the pledge "Lets keep the hospital open and dress the nurses in blue"

If the results were:
Candidate 1 - 35%
Candidate 2 - 32%
Candidate 3 - 33%

Then under FPTP candidate 1 would win, even though the majority wanted to keep the hospital open. Under AV people could indicate the intentions of their preferences and the split vote would not be able to spoil the election.

Despite this though, I'm still unsure which way to vote.

and the result of the election in that constituency would still be irrelevant to whether or not the hospital was closed - that's democracy in action for you!

phunkeymonkey

chewmylegoff wrote: »

and the result of the election in that constituency would still be irrelevant to whether or not the hospital was closed - that's democracy in action for you!

True, but at least they'd be accountable to the electorate.

Accountability is one of the better sides of AV. No longer would parties be able to rely upon their gang of diehard supporters, they would have to be attractive to the population as a whole in order to assure their 2nd preferences.

AndyGuil

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100067892/ten-reasons-to-vote-no-to-av/