bigbladerob Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share Posted April 26, 2011 but why should your 3rd vote mean as much as your 1st vote? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truman Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 but why should your 3rd vote mean as much as your 1st vote? It can mean more..the person you put in 3rd place could win whereas the one you really wanted could be out in the first round Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethwebb Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 AV isn't going to change this. AV is going to affect the process of voting in an MP. The voting figures from the last election tell us very little about who people wanted as Prime Minister. I didn't vote according to who I wanted as PM, and that will be the case for many people. When voting in a general election a vote is for who we want to represent us in our constituency. Governments will still be "elected" on the basis of forming majorities in parliament. The introduction of AV will probably make people feel less disenfranchised, but mostly because it will be more opaque. Statements like "more people didn't want Cameron as our Prime Minister than those who did" will be even more difficult to quantify. It's safe to say that anyone who voted Labour or Lib Dem wouldn't have wanted Cameron... With AV it will be more easy to quantify, as we won't need to assume people's other preferences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 It's safe to say that anyone who voted Labour or Lib Dem wouldn't have wanted Cameron... It's also completely wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethwebb Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 It can mean more..the person you put in 3rd place could win whereas the one you really wanted could be out in the first round But you don't have to make a second or third choice. It's optional. Therefore even if your third option did get counted, you could feel comfortable that your voice still being listened to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattleonard Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 but why should your 3rd vote mean as much as your 1st vote? Indeed. And if a system was to be introduce where it doesn't count so much, then how will the allocation reflect people's true level of preference. To be honest, the only way I can imagine something along the lines of a preference based system being truly fair is to allocate each voter a number of votes which they can allocate as they please. These are then counted in a single round. In reality I don't think this is any fairer than FPTP though. At root, the problem is the mistaken impression that a vote for a candidate who doesn't win is either a wasted vote or doesn't count and that the system is therefore undemocratic, ie. it's all about backing the right horse, and if you get it wrong then you're a loser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alchresearch Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 but why should your 3rd vote mean as much as your 1st vote? In that case, don't put any second or third choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattleonard Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 It's safe to say that anyone who voted Labour or Lib Dem wouldn't have wanted Cameron... With AV it will be more easy to quantify, as we won't need to assume people's other preferences. It's not at all safe to assume that, and your attempt to paint that picture is the most undemocratic thing I've read in a long time. Why do we need to assume people's other preferences? It doesn't give any useful information. And if we do start quantifying people's preferences then the most significant data is missing, ie. the degree of their preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattleonard Posted April 26, 2011 Share Posted April 26, 2011 In that case, don't put any second or third choices. What if you really want candidate A, and could just about live with candidate B, but definitely don't want candidate C? You are pushed towards giving a more significant weight to candidate B than you really feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbladerob Posted April 26, 2011 Author Share Posted April 26, 2011 But you don't have to make a second or third choice. It's optional. Therefore even if your third option did get counted, you could feel comfortable that your voice still being listened to. i didnt know that, I thought you had to register for 6 votes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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