AV/Preferential voting

[blamebrampton]

Life is still chaos. HOWEVER, in the interests of accuracy, I need to make a short post on AV for the Britflist.

'Australians' DO NOT want to get rid of AV, and there is not a massive move to 'go back' to life before AV.

For a start, there are very few 114-year-old Australian voters. AV has been in place here since 1918. The 'going back' idea is a fiction.

There was a poll taken that came out with more Australian voters in favour of FPTP than AV, however, the poll itself is pretty bloody questionable -- for a start its main question asks about hypothetical perfect models rather than saying: 'do you like the way we vote in Australia, or would you rather vote the way people vote in the UK/US?'

This was an intentional decision as the people who commissioned the vote were a think tank who are in favour of FPTP voting. Now, people commission dodgy polls all the time. That's fine, I'd probably do the same if I thought I could get linked-up cycleways in Sydney through. But it's a CRAP reason for someone to vote no in the UK.

Vote no if you believe in the No case, absolutely.

But in Australia, people are by and large very happy with the way we vote, even if it ends up with comedy parliaments like our current one. The people who are actually against AV are politicians who have lost out because of it (most recently the local BNP-like lupin) and people who find it annoying to have to number a ballot one to eight. In the UK, with non-compulsory voting, this second set could stay home and rest their delicate wrists.

For a clear and concise history of how AV has affected results in Australian federal elections, check out the excellent Anthony Green here.

Make up your own minds, but don't for a moment swallow the 'The Aussies hate it!' line. Oh, and you can safely ignore the 'It's really hard!' line, too. FFS, Australians can do it!

Comments

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

FPTP just saddled Canada with a conservative majority in Parliament for the next 4 years, even though well over 50% of the population did NOT vote for the Tories.

Where do I sign up to vote "yes to AV" for Canada? :|

[momebie.livejournal.com]

Can you give me a little rundown of what AV is? I know it's Alternative Voting(?), but my Google search is coming up with lots of propaganda one way or another and not much explanation of what that exactly entails. I did find a wiki page on AV+, but it says that the system hasn't been implemented anywhere in the world, so that may not be what you're talking about? Or it may be wiki tampering. [/nosy ignorant American]

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I wish the US had it, for what it's worth. It would permit more choice.

(And I had to get my mind out of the gutter: 'AV' is a common term in yaoi storylines, meaning "adult video". Heh, yep, everyone should have adult videos!)

[oncelikeshari.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I am so annoyed that people have accepted the reason to vote no is 'because you're too stupid to understand it'

Who calls the voter stupid and wins?

Oh yeah, the British!

[seshat1.livejournal.com]

Sadly that is one of the many lies in the No 2 AV campaign... :( I'm hoping most of the No's will not vote as it's been publicised they're in the lead (not convinced, but again, lies!) so they are lazy and the Yes's will all vote as they actually care about changing the system.

[angelofcaffeine.livejournal.com]

There's an ad at a bus stop down the road from me that labels AV - I kid you not - 'the least popular voting method in the world'.

GUYS, WE DON'T WANT TO BE UNCOOL.

Also, LOL at 'you're too stupid to understand how to count to eight!' The No-to-AV arguments are rather bewildering.

[lyras.livejournal.com]

I've been here almost five and a half years, and I've never heard an Australian complain about preferential voting. So frustrating to see that line pushed in the UK!