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AV Referendum - how will you vote?


How will you vote in the AV referendum?  

110 members have voted

  1. 1. How will you vote in the AV referendum?

    • Yes - Change to AV
      56
    • No - Stick with 'First Past the Post'
      46
    • Don't know/Won't vote
      8


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of course it would because in the end you have a final round with two candidates. If the one with 49% in the first round cannot convince anyone else to vote for him in further rounds then he should not get in.

 

AV puts the post in FPTP - under AV you have to convince 50% of all voters to support you. If not you don't get in. Under FPTPF you can get in even if 70% of the electorate voted to NOT have you - how is that fair?

 

Exactly...:huh::gag::confused::confused:

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of course it would because in the end you have a final round with two candidates. If the one with 49% in the first round cannot convince anyone else to vote for him in further rounds then he should not get in.

 

AV puts the post in FPTP - under AV you have to convince 50% of all voters to support you. If not you don't get in. Under FPTPF you can get in even if 70% of the electorate voted to NOT have you - how is that fair?

 

Your argument only stands if you accept that second preferences are as important as first preferences. I don't accept that. I might give my second preference to Party X because I find them slightly more palatable than Party Y. That is not 'support', and that '2' should not carry equal importance to a heart-felt and emphatic '1' cast by a supporter of Party Y. The 'myth' that under AV, an MP is elected with 50+% support of voters is just silly.

 

Comparisons with two round systems also don't stand. For starters, the final choice in such elections is between the two most popular candidates. Mr 20% from the scenario we discussed and other third place candidates wouldn't make it that far. Run-off elections are about first choices. You get a first choice in round one, and a first choice in round two. Giving a second preference to a candidate is not the same as voting for them directly in a final round, where you have a clear choice between the most popular candidates.

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Your argument only stands if you accept that second preferences are as important as first preferences. I don't accept that. I might give my second preference to Party X because I find them slightly more palatable than Party Y. That is not 'support', and that '2' should not carry equal importance to a heart-felt and emphatic '1' cast by a supporter of Party Y. The 'myth' that under AV, an MP is elected with 50+% support of voters is just silly.

 

Well it is support for party Y and forces them to work for your vote. In short its simply a better system. Its only the VI's who want to keep FPTP.

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of course it would because in the end you have a final round with two candidates. If the one with 49% in the first round cannot convince anyone else to vote for him in further rounds then he should not get in.

 

AV puts the post in FPTP - under AV you have to convince 50% of all voters to support you. If not you don't get in. Under FPTPF you can get in even if 70% of the electorate voted to NOT have you - how is that fair?

 

What do you mean 'final round'? There is only one round of voting.

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Rubbish. Under AV, a candiate who gets 49% of first preferences could lose to a candidate who only got 20% of first preferences!! Would that reflect the will of the electorate? Really?

 

This isn't really a sensible example - if Mr 49% is popular enough to gain that amount of the vote in the first place then surely he will have enough support elsewhere to get that last 1%. Besides, if Mr 49% can't drum up the extra 1% support from voters outside his support base then does he deserve to represent his constituency?

 

By contrast, as a REAL example, Sheffield Central's result at the last election was decided by 165 votes. Out of a 41,468 turnout, does that reflect the will of the electorate? Really?

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