On the 5th May the people of Britain will return to the polling booth for local elections. These elections will no doubt cripple the Liberal Democrats at a local level, still riding the wave of contempt from the public over Tuition Fees, the VAT rise and public sector cuts.
But all this is seemingly irrelevant to the online community, the big issue on the 5th May is the vote for the Alternative Vote. I know that I (and many other people) have spoken about this issue before, but I thought I'd try and put across the reasons why I feel AV should be the way to go and perhaps more importantly why and where the No 2 AV campaign is going wrong.
For anybody who hasn't read about AV before, here is a simply guide to how it works.
Why Vote Yes?
FPTP allows candidates to win their seat with only 3 votes in 10. AV would mean that candidates would need over 50%.
It encourages a stronger constituency link, MPs have to work hard to appeal to their constituents to make sure they get the higher percentage of votes.
It encourages moderated debates, extremists views are unlikely to be popular across the spectrum of a constituency.
AV isn't perfect, but it is a step in the right direction.
Why the No Campaign is wrong?
AV will cost £250m - Erm, how do I put this? .. Ah yes, this is a complete lie. AV will not cost £250m.
The referendum on AV will cost £82m. Let me just stress that point, the referendum will cost £82m, regardless if the Yes vote wins. So it will cost us £82m to keep FPTP if the No vote wins. The outcome is irrelevant to this cost. Strike one for No2Av. The rest of this "cost" comes from electronic voting machines, which will cost up to £130m. Guess what? Strike two. We don't need these machines. The rest of the money is made up in educating voters, but their estimates are on a totally different voting system. Strike three and this No2AV lie is out of here.
But all this is seemingly irrelevant to the online community, the big issue on the 5th May is the vote for the Alternative Vote. I know that I (and many other people) have spoken about this issue before, but I thought I'd try and put across the reasons why I feel AV should be the way to go and perhaps more importantly why and where the No 2 AV campaign is going wrong.
For anybody who hasn't read about AV before, here is a simply guide to how it works.
Why Vote Yes?
FPTP allows candidates to win their seat with only 3 votes in 10. AV would mean that candidates would need over 50%.
It encourages a stronger constituency link, MPs have to work hard to appeal to their constituents to make sure they get the higher percentage of votes.
It encourages moderated debates, extremists views are unlikely to be popular across the spectrum of a constituency.
AV isn't perfect, but it is a step in the right direction.
Why the No Campaign is wrong?
AV will cost £250m - Erm, how do I put this? .. Ah yes, this is a complete lie. AV will not cost £250m.
The referendum on AV will cost £82m. Let me just stress that point, the referendum will cost £82m, regardless if the Yes vote wins. So it will cost us £82m to keep FPTP if the No vote wins. The outcome is irrelevant to this cost. Strike one for No2Av. The rest of this "cost" comes from electronic voting machines, which will cost up to £130m. Guess what? Strike two. We don't need these machines. The rest of the money is made up in educating voters, but their estimates are on a totally different voting system. Strike three and this No2AV lie is out of here.
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| No2AV - This is how the "cost" of AV should be spent. Truly disgusting campaigning. |
Next on the list of lies mis-truths - Voting Yes2AV will help the BNP. This is actually quite funny. Firstly because of course it is a lie. But secondly because the BNP are campaigning against AV. Their supporters are being encouraged to vote No2AV.
Allowing voters to rank their preferences is apparently going to benefit the BNP more than any other party in the No2AV fantasy land. Voters can rank up to five candidates, but they don't have to, they can just vote for one candidate and one candidate only. Meaning only BNP supporters will rank them at all. But no, the No2AV see it differently.
I can imagine it now. A supporter of the Liberal Democrats walking into the voting booth and putting Lib Dem's as their first choice because they support the idea of immigration amnesty that was brought up in the 2010 Election only to decide that they'd like the BNP as their second choice because, you know what, I don't like immigrants here, they'd like to give them £50,000 to "get out of their country". Hmm, then again, maybe not.
AV is a confusing system. How many of you think ranking something 1-5 is confusing? It is an insult to the intelligence of the British public.
FPTP is a British tradition. So was slavery. *bangs head on wall*.
I particularly like this analogy to show why you don't get two votes under AV -
ReplyDeleteYou walk into a pub and order a pint of Fosters, your preferred beer. The barman tells you there's no Fosters, it's not popular enough for him to make a profit on. Here's how it would unfold under the two systems:
FPTP: You leave the pub a thirsty man. You wanted Fosters, and as you can only choose one, when that isn't available you can't have any. You may as well never have even bothered going to the pub.
AV: You're disappointed that you can't get Fosters, but realising that there is no chance of getting Fosters decide to go for Becks, which isn't your favourite, but its better than Carling. You aren't thrilled, but you're content, at least you got a beer.
I'm sure you could substitute other things in place of beer and it would still work :)