scud8

iTrader: (1)

In the Alternative Vote system being proposed for UK will it be mandatory to rank all candidates? I know it is in the Australian system - a ballot paper that doesn't rank all candidates is considered spoiled and not counted at all - but the literature put out by the Electoral Reform Society claims that it won't be in the UK system.

If this is true then it would remove one of my biggest objections to the system, the prospect of being forced to vote (even as last choice) for the BNP or some other obnoxious party.

I'm still not sure I will vote for AV, it feels like a change from choosing the "most liked" to the "least disliked" - a recipe for conservativism (with a small 'c') and mediocrity.

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

No, you can vote for as many, or few, candidates as you like.

David Lock

Correct.

It won't change from the current system anyway as the Great British Public don't like change - IMHO.

dl
(anti-AV)

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Whilst it is not going to be part of the UK's AV system, it would be nice if we had a choice to put a "vote of no confidence" in all the standing candidates.

Jimbob

iTrader: (13)

Wales runs a similar thing, and we`ve had coallitions since the start, and its utter crap. No one party ever gets enough to be outright in charge. It sucks, as come election time they ALL promise their 2p`s worth, then come after they dump it all, as they have to work with other parties, so their manifesto becomes worthless, and so they are not accountable.

I can see this problem being transferred if there is a yes.

Belgium hasn`t had a government in ages due to it, and also the reason why Ed Milipede is incharge of the Labour Party instead of the much more popular, and able to speak David Milipede, and they go through how many votes and run offs to get a leader lol.

Coffin Dodger

Thought this thread was going to be about Hi-Fi / Home Cinema

joz8968

iTrader: (13)

Me too - initially.

LEUVEN

LOL me 3

<reverses quietly out of thread>

speedking

That will be effectively achieved by registering a vote and not putting a mark against any of the candidates.

Leslie

Yes I agree. If it was to replace our present system, which would be a big mistake and also a con job the way they are advocating it, I will certainly only vote for one candidate.

Les

boomer

The trouble is, tactical voting will increase a thousand-fold!

You will vote for your favourite first, but then choose the most unlikely candidate for second (and third etc.) so that if your (wo)man fails to get a majority then the outsider(s) will get an artificial weighting at the cost of the normal second-place candidate (who is probably someone who you wouldn't want to win).

Then again, the thickos will still vote for "the same party as mi dad and mi grand-dad and 'is dad n'all" - so it will all become very messy

mb

boomer

...or if everybody votes for the same second-place party, we will end up being governed by the "crested newt party of great britain" or similar

mb

David Lock

It's mildly interesting in that in the last election the Liberals would have got another 20 or so seats with AV in place because they were a fairly innocuous bunch and they didn't have a snowball's chance of winning so a few "second" votes to them.

This time around everyone hates them because they welshed on their promises so they really will suffer - hoisted by their own petard

dl

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Single Transferable Vote / Alternative Vote only works properly if you rank the candidates........ Not much cop if you don't want to play the game and have a second / third choice candidate, like me

First past the post has many flaws but what it does do is allow you to make a clear choice of the candidate you want to represent you (no taxation without representation and all that).

Shaun

Leslie

AV will produce more coalition governments and we can see just how the largest party is being held back by the makeweights.

We need strong government and a coalition like this one will not permit that.

Les

jods

Me too - I was going to recommend getting properly sheilded cables and keeping power cables at a reasonable distance away. I'm getting a shocking amount of interference in Zone 2. Sucks the big one!