Comments on: Gordon Brown outlines plans to reform UK voting system http://www.star-one.org.uk/gordon-brown-outlines-plans-to-reform-uk-voting-system/ comment on the news of the day & other things Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:59:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: simon gray http://www.star-one.org.uk/gordon-brown-outlines-plans-to-reform-uk-voting-system/comment-page-1/#comment-367 simon gray Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:54:02 +0000 http://www.star-one.org.uk/?p=1144#comment-367 there's no automatic compulsion to rank anybody other than your first preference in preferential systems (although in australia it is compulsory to fill in all the boxes). with a preferential system you still vote for the person - not the party - you want to win; it's a feature of the particular party list system which was implemented for the european elections which had people voting for parties, not something inherent in preferential voting itself. with single transferable vote (which is used for multi-member constituencies), there is still the link between the member & the constituency. & there's nothing confusing about multi-member constituencies - the british public have had them for decades, & voted in elections to them every year. it is indeed a travesty that enough people in the north west euro constituency voted bnp to give them an mep, but that's the price you pay for democracy - you have to put up with the possibility of everybody being represented. there’s no automatic compulsion to rank anybody other than your first preference in preferential systems (although in australia it is compulsory to fill in all the boxes).

with a preferential system you still vote for the person – not the party – you want to win; it’s a feature of the particular party list system which was implemented for the european elections which had people voting for parties, not something inherent in preferential voting itself.

with single transferable vote (which is used for multi-member constituencies), there is still the link between the member & the constituency. & there’s nothing confusing about multi-member constituencies – the british public have had them for decades, & voted in elections to them every year.

it is indeed a travesty that enough people in the north west euro constituency voted bnp to give them an mep, but that’s the price you pay for democracy – you have to put up with the possibility of everybody being represented.

]]> By: sismum http://www.star-one.org.uk/gordon-brown-outlines-plans-to-reform-uk-voting-system/comment-page-1/#comment-362 sismum Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:08:17 +0000 http://www.star-one.org.uk/?p=1144#comment-362 When I vote, I vote for the person, (and I mean person not political party) I WANT TO WIN, whose political views mainly co-incide with mine. The other persons on the ballot paper will have views that I disagree with; why should the fact that I have voted at all be shared out amongst people or parties who I would not wish to vote for. If any system other than the "1st past the post" comes in I shall never vote again unless at the end of the list of "preferences" comes NONE OF THE ABOVE. The voting system for the European Parliament has resulted in the obnoxious BNP having a representative in the European Parliament from my constituency - what a travesty!! Perhaps it is my fault because I refused to vote!! When I vote, I vote for the person, (and I mean person not political party) I WANT TO WIN, whose political views mainly co-incide with mine. The other persons on the ballot paper will have views that I disagree with; why should the fact that I have voted at all be shared out amongst people or parties who I would not wish to vote for. If any system other than the “1st past the post” comes in I shall never vote again unless at the end of the list of “preferences” comes NONE OF THE ABOVE. The voting system for the European Parliament has resulted in the obnoxious BNP having a representative in the European Parliament from my constituency – what a travesty!! Perhaps it is my fault because I refused to vote!!

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