Who here remembers the alternative vote referendum in May 5th 2011? I was 14 then, so old enough to remember. But I don’t remember hearing anything about it. I did some research, and it was on the same day as the Welsh Assembly elections, Scottish Parliament elections and the local by-elections. The voter turn-out was so low (as was everything around that time), and 67.90% of people voted against it. I asked my parents, and they said they had no idea it was even going on.
Now, alternative vote isn’t the BEST voting system, but it is miles better than First Past the Post. It ruins the spoiler effect and gives smaller parties a chance to gain more seats because people don’t feel the need to vote tactically. So why did this referendum have a low voter turnout (42.2%)? Why did so few people hear about it? Why was it held on the same day as so many other elections?
Anyway, here is a video of David Cameron speaking against it.
Of course everything he says is bollocks. AV is simple. You go in and vote, you can just put an “x” next to one candidate if you want, but you can also rank them - up until you stop liking the parties. If you opt to rank them, then your vote can be transferred in the order you ranked them should your first choice get eliminated. The parties that get eliminated are the parties that come in last place after each elimination. It takes longer to explain, sure, but it doesn’t take a genius to understand it.
Alternative Vote is far more fair than First Past the Post. It results in candidate that a larger per cent of the voters can be happy with, even if it’s not their first choice. Supporters of small parties should have their vote counted again because they deserve to have their voice heard. Labour and Conservative supporters already had their voice heard.
And the claim that it results in a Parliament of second choices, as if First Past the Post doesn’t do the the exact same thing (and worse), is by far the worst part of the video. Our current system causes people to vote tactically against a party they dislike over a party they actually like. We have a Parliament of second choices. To some of us, it’s worse. We have a Parliament of last choices that got in through the spoiler effect that the Tories often gain power through.
Something tells me that the date and the lack of knowledge surrounding the occurrence of this referendum wasn’t an accident. Remember that there was a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition back then. Lib Dems are very much in favour of electoral reform. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that David Cameron did this to gain favour with Lib Dem voters, but did everything he could to make sure that it didn’t go through.
