Av

[Ardiles]

Personally I can't see the point in saying I like party X, but if they don't win then I'd prefer it to be party Y. That's a bit like saying if I can't have my favourite cake, I'll have that one with dog shit smeared all over it instead.

No thanks.

You could extend the analogy to describe how the Tories have stitched up the Lib Dems by forcing them to fight for a watered-down, comprimise option that neither they or anyone else really wanted in the first place.

Tories:
Carrot cake...mmmm.  We really like carrot cake.  It's great.

Lib Dems:
No it isn't.  We've been eating it for years and it makes us puke.  It has carrots in it and carrots have no business at all being in a cake.  If we're going to join your gang, we're going to insist on a referendum where everyone gets to decide whether we stick with carrot cake or move to chocolate cake instead.

Tories:
Chocolate cake?!  You're joking, aren't you?  OK, we know quite a few people like chocolate cake, but we're not going to let you ask anyone whether they want it.  No way.  But you can ask them if they want beetroot cake if you like.

Lib Dems:
Beetroot cake?!  Fuck off.  You can stick that right up your arse.  No one likes beetroot cake.  (OK, the Australians do, but that's it.  And even they want to get rid of it.)  Even we don't want beetroot cake.  Granted, it's going to be a little tastier than carrot cake.  But it's still shit.

Tories:
Tough.  It's beetroot cake or nothing.

Lib Dems:
OK then.

[iffy]

But a vote against beetroot cake is a vote for carrot cake.

So when the referendum is lost, they can turn round and say "We told you, everyone likes carrot cake. Let's not have any more of this cake related nonsense again. Now sit down and eat your carrot cake, forever".

[Ardiles]

Precisely.

And we live in a 'democracy'.  Apparently.

[Nemo]

Amusingly, the Yes Campaign is the colour of Beetroot.

And the No Campaign the colour of Cat Sick.

Seriously, who did the colour pallette for this referendum?

[spacey]

I couldn't decide whether to go with my heart, my head or my gut, so I put it to a vote. My gut came third, so I eliminated that and used the second preference for the gut voters and added those to the head and heart votes. My head won with a slight majority.

If I'd used the first-past-the-post system my heart would have won. Stupid AV! My head's an idiot!

[ghanimah]

Yes - you have to be in one camp or the other... none of this mamby pamby stuff, it's people like with an opinion that have ruined this word... if you don't like it emigrate to somewhere that likes ideaology...

Sorry I may have missed your sarcasm in your original post. I'm not voting in the referendum one way or the other but as a candidate in the last election I know that the simple process of FPTP is a struggle enough for a worrying number of the electorate; so how they will cope with something more complicated I'm not sure. I once had to agree to a spoiled ballot with a farm yard scene drawn on it including trees, tractors and and various farmyard animals. How long that took to draw makes the mind boggle.

[Don Rogers Shop]

It's gonna be a NO for me.
If you have 5 candidates named a,b,c,d & e.
A gets 35%, B gets 30%, C gets 17%, D 10% & E gets 8%.
In the second round E is eliminated , but that 8% of votes gets counted again using their second choice. For simplicity if they all put candidate D as second choice then candidate C would be eliminated as the next round would be A 35%, B 30%, C 17% D 10% + 8% = 18%.
In the third round it could be that C's second choices get added to Candidates D's 1st choices & E's second choices to eliminate candidate B. & win.
All very complicated, messy & unfair. No wonder the lib dems back it!

Why should someone who votes for say the BNP, get their alternative choices taken into account to the extent that my first choice is "outvoted"

You can get royally fucked if you think i will try and understand that.

[pauld]

as a candidate in the last election

Local or general? Who for/where did you stand? Just curious - mind your own is a perfectly good answer

[Phil_S]

You can get royally fucked if you think i will try and understand that.

Exactly the point.

[Ardiles]

If it really is true that FPTP is the only system that the population can understand/deal with, then we really need to spend more on education.  You get the politics you deserve, I guess.

[donkey]

To av or av not.

As the BNP are against AV, I will vote for it.

[Reg Smeeton]

If it really is true that FPTP is the only system that the population can understand/deal with, then we really need to spend more on education.  You get the politics you deserve, I guess.

Spending money on education is largely a waste....a recent survey found that 1 in 10 schoolkids think that Haddock is a planet.

I shall be voting yes...simply because I hate Tories.

[ghanimah]

Local or general? Who for/where did you stand? Just curious - mind your own is a perfectly good answer

2010, general election in Oxford West as a UKIP candidate (and am standing in the local elections for tomorrow). I've never voted for the main parties ever - have fought against our EU membership for over 20 years particularly since the ERM debacle which ended, for the UK, on 22nd September 1992 - when my family nearly lost our house as a direct result.

[Jamiesfuturewife]

All I know is because of AV 2 x schools in Calne being used as polling stations I get an extra days kids club

[Nemo]

2010, general election in Oxford West as a UKIP candidate (and am standing in the local elections for tomorrow). I've never voted for the main parties ever - have fought against our EU membership for over 20 years particularly since the ERM debacle which ended, for the UK, on 22nd September 1992 - when my family nearly lost our house as a direct result.

At least you beat the Animal Protection candidate then.