Alternative Vote Explained

The Alternative Voting System – the Worst of all Worlds
I am not averse to reform in terms of how our constitution works and would in many ways have more difficulty if the referendum was for or against a truly Proportional system. But it is not and when comparing AV with first past the post it is important not to vote for a system for novelty sake.
For my part I believe that AV is the worst of all worlds.
It gives you the illusion that you have lots of choices – but in reality only those who vote for smaller parties actually get their votes counted more than once. So it puts much more power in the hands in minority parties and as a result diminishes the value of those voters who choose Labour or Conservative Candidates.
· In many Parliamentary seats that regularly deliver the winner with over 50% of the vote, this new voting mechanism will have no impact whatsoever.
· For another large number of seats it will ONLY give voters from small marginal parties a second vote – giving very small marginal parties a highly disproportionate say in our elections
· In a few constituencies Liberal Democrat votes will be counted again.
· While Labour or Conservative voters will only have their second vote counted in under 50 seats – if that.
AV provides the majority with an illusion of a second vote while in reality it just gives those who vote for very marginal parties an additional bite at the electoral cherry.
In practise it would have meant the following for East Kent at the last election:
What would AV have meant in the Thanet South constituency?
There would have been at least two rounds of counting
The 6% of people who voted for the least popular candidate would have been allowed at least 2 votes
But the 94% of people who voted for the Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat candidateswould have had their votes counted just once
What would AV have meant in the Dover constituency?
There would have been at least six rounds of counting
The 82 voters who voted for the least popular party would have had at least 6 votes
The 1,104 people who voted for the BNP would have had at least 3 votes
But the 93% of voters who voted for Conservative, Labour or Liberal Democrat candidates would have had their votes counted just once

AV is complicated, expensive and unnecessary –giving the minority a second vote and delivering the least unpopular candidate not the most effective!

Please vote NO to AV when