[poll] AV, Yes or No?
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The referendum on the UK voting system is tomorrow, and a fair number of CFUK members are UK residents that are old enough to vote, so;
Are you voting, and which way?
Firstly, if you're NOT voting, that's fine, each to their own. But be aware that, even though we all dislike/hate the government at time, you can't really complain about them if you forgo your right to effect them.
Onto the vote itself!
In AV, rather than putting a single "X" next the party you'd prefer, and if, like in the last election, the numbers are close, we could end up with a government that, while having the majority of votes, was not voted for by half of the nation!
A lot of people I've asked have said that they don't really know what AV is, so, in case there's any on CFUK who are unsure, here's an scenario;
Imagine you want to vote for Lib Dems, but you don't think they have a chance of winning, and if it came down to Labour or Conservative, you'd prefer Labour. In the old system, the Lib Dems would miss out on millions of votes because people in this situation would just vote Labour.
With AV, you would rank the parties you're OK with in order of preference. So, in the above scenario, you would put Lib Dems at #1, Labour at #2, any other parties in whatever order afterwards, and presumably not rank Conservatives at all.
During counting, only #1 ranked parties are counted. If, at the end of the count, there is no majority, the lowest voted for party is scrapped, and, for the people who put that party as their #1, their #2 party is given the vote.
This process is repeated until one party has a majority.
The main argument against AV seems to be "it's too complex," which is a ridiculous reason to write off changes to something so important. Another argument I've heard is that it could allow some of the smaller "idiot" parties to get into power which, while I agree would be a bad thing, those "idiot" parties would have been put into power by us and I believe we should still have the right to make mistakes.
So, there you have a question, an explanation, and an opinion. I'm interested to know what opinions (if any) you all have on this, and if anyone has an alternative argument in favour of keeping the current system that isn't oppressive or retarded, as those listed above are.
diablothe2nd
need an "i dont care" vote for this poll too lol
Pfft! If I could slap your attitude with a big smelly fish, I would.
Psychosis86
I have to agree with d2. Bring on the fish!!!
That's fine, people are free not to vote. I just have a problem with people who don't vote and then go on to whine and moan about tax increase or public transport or the police force.
... I may still come for you both in game. With a fish.if the general populace really believed it would change the country that much, then more and more voters would be coming to the polls.
despite increasing population, less and less people are voting.I'm from Norway, so naturally, I vote for the Republican Party! Wait... what?
Edit: It is important to vote though. I always vote every time there is an election in Norway. My "team" never seems to win (stupid popular vote...), but I always vote regardless.
diablothe2nd
if the general populace really believed it would change the country that much, then more and more voters would be coming to the polls.
despite increasing population, less and less people are voting.
We get very little opportunity to effect change on the wider world, I'm not ready to give up that opportunity because it's insignificant.Well, perhaps this non politically biased view will educate the ones who think it's a good idea to spend billions on a system that half of the 3 or 4 countries that currently use it want to ditch.
http://poughies.blogspot.com/2011/05/britons-should-vote-no-on-av.html
the two responses at the bottom interested me more. although the first seemed to be a rant, the second more valid. but what sticks in my mind is why are some of the current AV countries wanting to change to FPTP? fact is, neither is perfect, but the AV throws a considerable sum of taxpayers dosh into just another imperfect solution and additional costs for every consecutive year. in a time of economic imbalance i think this is a foolish propositionLets fix things that are broke in the country first, before making things that are working just fine broken.
BRooNiE
Lets fix things that are broke in the country first, before making things that are working just fine broken.
hehe tell that to David Cameron!
Did you vote conservative in the last election? Because something like 53% of the nation didn't, and that's pretty much what we got. I don't call that a working system.is it me or did the results of this vote get swept under the carpet or mentioned only in passing?
it was a landslide "No" wasn't it? or am I reading my RSS feeds wrong?
/me doesn't watch live TV, so has only the paper and interweb for news
beagrie
Did you vote conservative in the last election? Because something like 53% of the nation didn't, and that's pretty much what we got. I don't call that a working system.
whoops forgot the quote and my answer!
nope, and the comment is irrelevant because AV would still have had a possibility of a Hung parliament and two non majorities joining to become leaders.I would have clicked on the 'Dont care' option. There isn't a good vs bad when it comes to our government. So choosing between bad or bad is simply a waste of time. We're going to get proverbially shafted regardless who we vote for.
Moderator(s): BRooNiE
