#YestoAV

[selfsamewoman]

Vote 2011

I'm disappointed that apparently, to my nation, the better course of action when you're angry and disillusioned at your corrupt and douchey coalition government is not to vote in a fairer voting system, but to vote back in* the corrupt and douchey opposition, which we only fucking got rid of last year.

TROLL HARDER BRITAIN, for fuck's sake.

* thank whoever-it-is that this is only for local government... 

[fiofo]

I'd just like to talk about something else that happened today (but written in a completely different tone - hence why it's not in the other post).

Someone at work declared that they were not voting tonight, didn't understand the referendum and that they only found out the local elections were today.

First off, I can't understand people who don't vote. We live in an amazing society which gives you the freedom to choose who represents you. People in North Africa were setting themselves on fire to protest how they wanted this system. And you don't want to vote because "it's too much effort" or "politics is boring" or "I don't know who to vote for"? As someone (I can't remember who) once said: "If you don't vote, you give up any rights to say that the government is rubbish, because you didn't choose to do anything about it"

Secondly, how can you not understand the AV system. IT IS SIMPLY RANKING THINGS. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO RANK MORE THAN ONE. YOU CAN JUST PICK ONE PERSON TO VOTE FOR. I sent them an email detailing this comic:

but I don't think they've changed their minds on not voting. I also read a brilliant article by Armando Ianucci that a colleague had found in The Independent. It explained some of the myths behind each campaign, whilst also complaining about how the two different sides have gone about it.

Thankfully, pretty much everyone in my division all agree that YesToAV is the best choice and discussed it at length this morning. 

[joshzap-blog]

I SHALL be watching the Scottish election count tonight

Albeit a bit shit and not as good as the General Election.

[zygonsftw-blog]

The last time the Conservative Party opposed electoral reform was to give women the right to vote. Just going to put that out there.

Vote Yes to AV!

[cerbear]

YES to AV!

Today is a big day in the UK. We get to choose whether we get a new voting system for future elections.

The current system we have splits each city up into small chunks, takes the top (majority) result for your small chunk, and then that is meant to represent your vote. But not so much if you voted for someone who didn't get the majority in your chunk.

The AV (Alternative Vote) is a system where each individual vote will count. Yes, it's true that only three other countries use the system; but most countries in the world either have obscenely corrupt governments who look after the system that looks after them, or they simply aren't the right size for the system.

What the 'No2AV' campaigners don't tell you is that just because only 3 other countries use AV, it does NOT mean that every other country in the world uses our current system. In fact, far from it.

If you think that it's simply fairer for each individual vote to count - and not just the votes of the majority of people in your local area - then vote YES to AV. AV is infinitely more democratic than the current system.

[selfsamewoman]

The no2av campaign is full of lies and lies. The Yes campaign, on the other hand, has been somewhat lacking in drive and simplicity. Because of the Tory money poured into the No campaign, AV is set to lose the referendum. AV is a better voting system than we have. However, it is only marginally better, and nowhere near the best system we could have. There’s also the added stinger that I don’t really believe in representative democracy anymore. I can’t see any way that it can work fairly. AV is good, but the referendum will fail precisely because politics is so terribly fickle and inefficient.

totheexperts

[wiredfire]

Alternative Vote explained using cats. And a dog. #yestoav #notoav #mehtoav

A good explanation of the alt-vote system using cats & one dog. http://goo.gl/KyeOE It's solidly in favour of AV so check the No arguments as well but it's a worthwhile watch all the same :)

[markrich]

Time to go and vote. Happy days! yestoav

[wjb-inthesky-blog-blog]

Its a hazy wednesday afternoon, I've trimmed my beard, had some tea + toast and now I'm about to go for a casual meander towards Bristol's main train station. Destination? Home. Why? To save the future of the UK's democratic system by voting #yestoav. Then, to top it off, I'll hope my say in the local council election will help to throw the Conservatives out of power in Cornwall and onto a roaring funeral pire fuelled, in a slick ironic twist, by their own self-serving, middle-English, hollow, big-societal-public-sector-slashing bullshit. Oh yes, with the amount of out-of-touch political rhetoric that's been bandied around of late in my community, we'll have enough material to keep the embers glowing for a long, long time. 

Music of choice to accompany this eclectic mix of chilled, Bristolian exploration and small-scale statement political of intent? Dr Who by Smerins Anti-Social Club. Naturally.

[drunkensemaphor]

Is your Cat confused about the referendum on the alternative vote on the 5th May? (by midnightcrow)

Well I think this is the best explanation for AV out there! I'm mostly in favour of AV anyway but am not going to go into fits of anger either if people don't vote in favour of AV. It would be nice to see a change in the system to see if there would be more representation and parties having to actually represent the majority of people. But hey-ho I have a feeling having seen the polls that it won't be.

[wemakeourownmovies]

I recently tweeted this, but here it is all in one place...

Remember in primary school when the teachers wanted to show you a dvd, and they held a vote and then pitted the two most popular against each other so that the people who didn't get a look in the first time round still got a chance to see something they didn't really mind seeing? Only seemed fair didn't it? That's how AV works... 

[tinnyman]

Referendum on the Alternative Vote System

Looking at tonight's polls it looks increasingly likely that the referendum on using the Alternative Vote system to elected Members of Parliament will return a no vote. It's fair to say the public haven't really engaged in the debate over this proposed change. I'm not surprised, it's hard to get excited over this slight change to the constitution. It also takes a bit of effort to explain and this fact has been exacerbated by the 'no' campaign who have actively tried to explain it badly so they can claim it's hard to understand.

I think it will be a shame if there is a no vote. The AV system is not perfect, but it's less worse that the 'first past the post' system currently used. I haven't really got the strength to write an essay on the strength and weaknesses of AV so I will briefly state what I think is the most convincing pro point.

The simple fact is that under the current system the majority of votes cast by people will not matter. There are a hand-full of constituencies that could realistically change hands, im talking of roughly 50-80 out of 650. I don't think its democratic for voters in these constituencies to decide if one party is able to form a Government. AV will not solve this problem but it will mean less constituencies are safe seats and so will make all parties work harder to gain votes from more people.

Even as I write this I find my enthusiasm for AV waining. The best I can really say is that it is preferable to FPTP. Someone said to me this week is that the problem with the referendum is that it brings to the foreground the inadequacies of the current democratic process without offering a adequate solution, I agree, but the pragmatist inside me says we should take the opportunity to reform, even if those reforms don't go nearly far enough.

So, yeah, I'm voting Yes.