Just a reminder that, for me at least, May is the month for saying "Yes!"
And here is why I would recommend a "Yes!" vote in the alternative vote (AV) referendum this Thursday.
- Pretty much everything you've heard against AV is not true. It's not complicated, it's not expensive and it's not unfair, for example.
- AV will deal effectively with the problem of tactical voting. Currently, if you want your vote to count most effectively, you need to guess how everyone else will vote so you can figure out whether you need to vote for candidate A in order to prevent candidate B from winning, even though you'd ideally like candidate C to win. You won't need to do that kind of thing any more under AV. That is a Good Thing.
- AV will deal effectively with the problem of splitting the vote. Currently if there are two similar candidates, they might split the vote, meaning that neither of them wins, and a third candidate - a generally disliked candidate - wins instead. That won't happen under AV, which guarantees that a generally disliked candidate cannot win. That also is a Good Thing.
See the Electoral Commission website for details about the referendum and what AV is, and the Electoral Reform Society website for more about why AV is better than our current system, first past the post (FPTP).