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New electoral system


marlin13
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The next council elections will be held using a new voting system, utilising the single transferable vote. No doubt this will be a source of much debate , but will probably be difficult to grasp for many at least initially.

 

I would be interested how many of the very politically astute members of this forum feel they really understand the system.

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Actually, the new system is very beneficial to the people.

 

Single Transferable Vote reduces the quantity of wasted votes and it ensures proportional representation and you vote for candidates, not parties.

 

I'd write what it means but Wikipedia does it better:

 

Single transferable vote (STV) is a preferential voting system designed to minimise wasted votes and provide proportional representation while ensuring that votes are explicitly for candidates rather than party lists. It achieves this by using multi-seat constituencies (districts) and by transferring votes that would otherwise be wasted. STV initially allocates an individual's vote to their most preferred candidate, and then subsequently transfers unneeded or unused votes after candidates are either elected or eliminated, according to the voter's stated preferences.

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If I understand the rules correctly we, as voters, can rank all the candidates in order of preference but we can also rank less than the total number of candidates should we choose to do so. There are two valid reasons for this. First I might well refuse to rank Joe Bloggs on the grounds that I do not like the man or his politics. The other reason is more complex but as I understand it those second and subsequent preference votes could count against my preferred candidate if he/she did not win.

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Is it just me or is there no sign of the poll which is supposed to be here?

 

There was something strange this morning (your post was not showing up in the board but was from the front end) when I came on the board so I had to resynch the posts. Suddenly there were two posts from you - one totally blank and the other this one.

 

I removed the other ... but, yes, as you point out there is no poll!

 

You can re-add it by editing your very first post.

 

HTH

 

trout

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My understanding the new STV system is that, as has been mentioned, you rank the candidants. Only your first vote is taken unless your first choice candidate has reached the necessary "Goal".

 

The goal is worked out by a simple calculation

 

Total number of votes for a ward divided by the number of available seats + 1 and the whole answer + 1.

 

e.g. 2000 votes in one ward with three available seats (2000/(3+1))+1=501.

 

This means that once a candidate reaches 501 votes they will be elected and any further votes for them (as first candidate) will be transfered to the 2nd placed candidate.

 

Really quite simple. 8O

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