av voting system

[thetank]

^^^not sure how lying about my dick or an impromptu geography quiz is going to ever get me laid but for the sake of my point lets pretend those are killer strategys.

[XrayEye/RiverAsUsual]

Even if AV isn't the ideal system (or even the best of the 2 on offer, which I actually think it is), if you don't vote for this change, it will be a very, very long time before another alternative is offered.
 
But if you vote for this change and it is found lacking in some way, there will be a further chance of improvement in the voting system.

It also may be the best way of stopping minority groups 'block-voting' to get their candidate in.

[Jon MW]

...
 
But if you vote for this change and it is found lacking in some way, there will be a further chance of improvement in the voting system.
...

I don't think this is necessarily the case, if we changed to AV there is unlikely to be anything objectively horrendous that would prompt a further change, so we almost certainly would just be stuck with it.

I think some of the supporters of PR have made a mistake by backing the change to AV.

I think it's right that it will be a long time before you might get another chance to change it, but only because a 'No' vote now will provide a very strong argument that people don't want it changed. If the PR supporters had opposed it they could have argued that people didn't want to change because it wasn't PR - but that's a much weaker argument after they supported the 'Yes' campaign here.

[Claw75]

Even if AV isn't the ideal system (or even the best of the 2 on offer, which I actually think it is), if you don't vote for this change, it will be a very, very long time before another alternative is offered.
 
But if you vote for this change and it is found lacking in some way, there will be a further chance of improvement in the voting system.

It also may be the best way of stopping minority groups 'block-voting' to get their candidate in.

yup - exactly my view too

[George2Loose]

Voted no. Not convinced by either but FPTP lesser of two evils imo

[snoopy1239]

Voted AV first, then FPTP second.

[The-Crow]

If you think the LIB Dems have a few good ideas , then this was a chance to support them in getting things started.

People hate change , so it looks like its a solid NO vote.

Clegg may have to step down, pity, I prefere him to Cameron anyday

[Josedinho]

If you think the LIB Dems have a few good ideas , then this was a chance to support them in getting things started.

People hate change , so it looks like its a solid NO vote.

Clegg may have to step down, pity, I prefere him to Cameron anyday

Less of this please.
Please give people credit to vote for what they want rather than just voting no to change.
If yes wins I'm sure people won't be saying "people love change, that's why yes won"

[kinboshi]

If you think the LIB Dems have a few good ideas , then this was a chance to support them in getting things started.

People hate change , so it looks like its a solid NO vote.

Clegg may have to step down, pity, I prefere him to Cameron anyday

Less of this please.
Please give people credit to vote for what they want rather than just voting no to change.
If yes wins I'm sure people won't be saying "people love change, that's why yes won"

Any idea what the turn-out was?  That would show voter apathy more than any particular vote.

[Josedinho]

Heard 4 out of 5 didn't vote but no idea how accurate that is.
I still don't think that indicates that people hate change. Not voting is a vote for no preference isn't it?

[Sheriff Fatman]

It's a pity that the AV referendum has such a strong attachment to the Libs Dems as I think the result will have been skewed to some extent by the unpopularity of them, and particularly Clegg, at the present time.

Whether that skewing would have been significant enough to switch a 'No' vote to a 'Yes' is a different question but, with hindsight, the timing of the referendum couldn't have been worse for the 'Yes' campaign.

How ironic that the popularity of Clegg at the General Election won them the referendum in the first place, but that his subsequent actions and unpopularity will have had a negative impact on the final outcome.

[Bongo]

If you think the LIB Dems have a few good ideas , then this was a chance to support them in getting things started.

People hate change , so it looks like its a solid NO vote.

Clegg may have to step down, pity, I prefere him to Cameron anyday

I voted No, not because of anything to do with the Lib Dems (I quite liked them joining the coalition, they did what they said they would do before the election) or because I hate change but because no one managed to put forward a compelling argument for AV.

[Jon MW]

... Not voting is a vote for no preference isn't it?

This.

There was a pollster from YouGov on Breakfast news a few weeks ago saying that the status quo is always favourite, using comparable referendums in other countries it seems there has to be either a radical difference or something very obviously wrong with the current system.

So a vote on full PR might have stood a chance by being different enough to motivate people to vote, but I think most people are more concerned with what the government does in the 5 years in between the elections rather than the elections themselves.

[kinboshi]

... Not voting is a vote for no preference isn't it?

This.

There was a pollster from YouGov on Breakfast news a few weeks ago saying that the status quo is always favourite, using comparable referendums in other countries it seems there has to be either a radical difference or something very obviously wrong with the current system.

So a vote on full PR might have stood a chance by being different enough to motivate people to vote, but I think most people are more concerned with what the government does in the 5 years in between the elections rather than the elections themselves.

No it's not a vote for the no preference.  That's plainly false.

The question on the referendum asked if you'd like to change the FPTP system to AV.  If 100 people turned up and voted YES for the change, and no one else voted, would all the non-votes be counted as NO?

[kinboshi]

but I think most people are more concerned with what the government does in the 5 years in between the elections rather than the elections themselves.

Nope.  It appears that most people are apathetic towards both.