Av

[Lamp]

So, anyone give a hoot about the AV vote tomorrow?

 

[Ch3tan]

I've decided to vote yes for AV, but I'm still a little torn on the issue. Neither system is what we should have, but I don't like the way Labour and the Tories have used first past the post in recent elections. I also feel that we'd be better off with coalitions.

 

[Lamp]

I feel we'd be better off if we had politicians who actually listened to their constituents, who really knew what people want, & tried to deliver on the real issues / priorities rather than blaming each other for what happened in the past, sucking up to the whips & trying to scam as much expenses as they can. But I guess thats not gonna happen.

Question Time is back tomorrow BTW. BBC1

 

[Aoami]

Would be spoiling my ballot, but apparently i'm not registered to vote despite sending in my form nearly a year a go.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Same here, although a shorter time frame, definitely got it in in time but they won't let us vote.

I would have been voting yes, so if it doesn't pass it's ALL YOUR FAULT FH.

 

[Zenith.UK]

We've had a variant of AV in the Welsh Assembly ellections called the Single Transferable vote. You pick your constituency member on a FPTP system, then you have another vote for the regional seat which use a similar method to AV to determine who wins. It's supposed to balance out "safe" seats and give the smaller parties (ie. Plaid Cymru) a chance to get seats.

If AV can give some of that to UK elections, I'll give it a go.

 

[Larossa]

I will bote - err vote, yes. Both tory and labour use av to choose their leader, as does the city of london for mayor so there must be something in it!
Frankly I think that the current system now works to promote a 2 party race which is not I think what it was originally designed for.

 

[ilaya]

voting no

as for the example of oh labour use AV... David Milliband won the vote yet his brother won.. thats why Ed is a fucking fan of it.

only 3-4 other countries in world use it yeah? and Australia the biggest of them.. and dont like it.

PR would be better than AV tbh.

 

[Ch3tan]

voting no

as for the example of oh labour use AV... David Milliband won the vote yet his brother won.. thats why Ed is a fucking fan of it.

only 3-4 other countries in world use it yeah? and Australia the biggest of them.. and dont like it.

PR would be better than AV tbh.

Of course PR would be better, but we don't have that as an option. Also you realise you've just used some of the BS arguments the anti AV campaign are peddling don't you? Why is first past the post better, if you are voting no, you must want it? I've highlighted the BS in bold for you by the way.

Now let's go to your Labour example.. if David did not get enough 1st choice votes for a majority, and not enough 2nd choice votes to beat Ed.... then surely ED got more votes. More people wanted him in power than David out of those that voted. It's common sense.

 

[cHodAX]

I've decided to vote yes for AV, but I'm still a little torn on the issue. Neither system is what we should have, but I don't like the way Labour and the Tories have used first past the post in recent elections. I also feel that we'd be better off with coalitions.

Totally agree that neither system is what we actually need, AV might be a step in the right direction though but I fear it may actually be the nail in the coffin for any future electoral reform.

 

[cHodAX]

What we really need is the right to recall our own MP's, if they are doing a shit job then we should be able to force a by-election and get them out.

 

[ilaya]

well i said i was voting no.. whats your point? read it wrong even after an edit? or did AV trim it down to something that looked good but you didnt really want?

 

[ilaya]

Its NOT who people actually want tho is it. let me break this down into DAOC votes that went down a few years back when this was all Barrysworld and shit..

we had people voting for best champion on realm. there was better than me.. at least 5-6... yet i still came out to be 2nd because i didnt offend anyone (back then).. your 2nd choice is basically a vote to not upset the balance. well it did upset the balance.

what we are gonna end up with is a Fractal govt.. you aint sure what it is until you look harder and think... we can take that.. nuke it

 

[pikeh]

don't like 3-4 countries use it and they all want rid? idk.
will probably spoil my ballot paper.

 

[Will]

The FactCheck Blog - FactCheck: How does the world rank FPTP vs AV?

I'm voting yes.

 

[Raven]

Voting yes. While not perfect, its better than the current system,

 

[Gwadien]

Although I can't vote, I like the AV system, it's fair, because currently, people only usually vote Tory or Labour or maybe LD's, because they fear of 'wasting their vote' but the - NO campaign is saying 'parties like the BNP may come into power if the AV vote is passed' - Erm, I'm sorry, but surely, if a mast majority of people in the UK wanted BNP to come into power, then let them? - basically, the NO campaign is just 'oh we want a Labour + Tory race bullshit for ev0r'

 

[PLightstar]

Keep swinging yes/no I can see the benefits of both sides. Going to have to do a little more reading before I jump either way later.

 

[- English -]

would vote no but not in the uk atm

 

[- English -]

Although I can't vote, I like the AV system, it's fair, because currently, people only usually vote Tory or Labour or maybe LD's, because they fear of 'wasting their vote' but the - NO campaign is saying 'parties like the BNP may come into power if the AV vote is passed' - Erm, I'm sorry, but surely, if a mast majority of people in the UK wanted BNP to come into power, then let them? - basically, the NO campaign is just 'oh we want a Labour + Tory race bullshit for ev0r'

dont think thats quite true, from what ive gathered people have put number 1 -2-3-4-5-6 etc .. even if they dont ever want to vote BNP they will have to put a number down and the way its calculated, the BNP could get more votes than they would otherwise .. correct me if im a mile off

 

[rynnor]

If your a scot or welsh vote yes - the english should vote no though because we will be held to ransom by the regions when parties are forced to build coalitions.

 

[Ormorof]

dont think thats quite true, from what ive gathered people have put number 1 -2-3-4-5-6 etc .. even if they dont ever want to vote BNP they will have to put a number down and the way its calculated, the BNP could get more votes than they would otherwise .. correct me if im a mile off

afaik you dont have to put down a prefered alternative, if you only like one candidate then just put down 1 for that and leave rest blank, but if that person is not elected you dont get any say after your choice is eliminated

I doubt AV would change much in the UK so dont really see the point, PR is better as you actually get a proper choice

in my eyes Labour and Conservatives are so similar these days, neither stick to their promises and the Lib Dems will join anyone willing to give them power, so it doesnt really matter who you vote for it wont make much difference, in my opinion in a real democracy there should be more than 2-3 choices

i only include Lib Dems here because of the coalition, i think they were as suprised as anybody that they managed to get into power, the UK is almost as much a two party system as the USA

And the USA has an absurd system, basically if you dont agree with either party then you are not important, with little chance of developing a new party which is absurd

/Rant

 

[Jiggs]

Should elect Parliament on a FPTP basis and the Lords on a regional PR system.

However that is not what is on offer so yes to AV it is.

I think the polls are all over the shop so it will be interesting to see the result.

 

[Ezteq]

Voting yes. While not perfect, its better than the current system,

tbh what we've got isn't working terribly well so this is either going to be equally crap or a bit better, but I very much doubt it can make it worse...though it might, but nothing ventured nothing gained right?

 

[Ch3tan]

dont think thats quite true, from what ive gathered people have put number 1 -2-3-4-5-6 etc .. even if they dont ever want to vote BNP they will have to put a number down and the way its calculated, the BNP could get more votes than they would otherwise .. correct me if im a mile off

You are a mile off, mch like iliya above, you falling for the falsenfacts being peddled. Read wills link.

 

[GReaper]

Will vote yes on this one.

Whilst AV isn't what I really want (I'd prefer something more proportional, I want to be able to vote for someone who actually understands and represents my views), it's better than FPTP. I wouldn't want to vote no, as I'm sure this vote would be twisted as a yes vote for FPTP - which I certainly don't want.

 

[ford prefect]

AV is far from perfect, but it is more progressive than the current system. If it had gone through in 1932 as it was meant to I suspect that british politics would be in a better state today.

I suppose the bottom line is simple, the current system simply doesn't work very well in modern Britain. There shouldn't be safe seats where lazy MP's can sit doing little work and getting in time after time and those kinds of situations are exactly the kind that make MP's blasé about their parties place in government, and lead to stupid and poorly thought out descisions and rediculous and impractical manifestos.

 

[rynnor]

I suppose the bottom line is simple, the current system simply doesn't work very well in modern Britain. There shouldn't be safe seats where lazy MP's can sit doing little work and getting in time after time and those kinds of situations are exactly the kind that make MP's blasé about their parties place in government, and lead to stupid and poorly thought out descisions and rediculous and impractical manifestos.

What a load of horseapples

The problem with british politics is that the major parties are all battling for the centre with near identical policies - AV will do nothing to change this.

Choosing who to vote for has become about as meaningfull as picking which washing powder to use - oo shall I vote bold or daz...

 

[ford prefect]

What a load of horseapples

The problem with british politics is that the major parties are all battling for the centre with near identical policies - AV will do nothing to change this.

Choosing who to vote for has become about as meaningfull as picking which washing powder to use - oo shall I vote bold or daz...

I disagree, but that depends entirely on your view and there are huge differences on many important subjects, and obviously no one party is going to please everyone all the time, but that is another debate entirely to be fair.

Incidentally I use Bold, Daz gives me a skin rash

 

[rynnor]

there are huge differences on many important subjects,

Lol! What?

Lab/Con - would raise VAT - Con got in and raised vat.
Lab/Con would cut public spending to reduce defecit - Con got in and started cuts.
Lab/Con would protect NHS budget - Con got in and protected NHS budget.
Lab budget was waved through by Con.
Both like student fee's, both wanted more private companies doing civil service work - public/private partnerships etc. etc.

If they didnt favour different colours at the election you'd be hard put to tell them apart.