This means you can vote for your
absolute first preference without worrying about wasting your vote because you
know they can’t win this time. You have your second preference vote to cast for
whichever of the likely top two candidates you least object to being mayor or
don’t mind them giving them a go. In Bristol the top two look like being
independent candidate George Ferguson and the Labour Party’s Marvin Rees, at
least for the present (you could vote for someone else as a second preference
or not cast your second vote at all, but then would not affect the result at
all).
Views about our real wealth - the natural and social world, the source of our resources and the basis of our lives - and how it can and should be sustained for generations.
Saturday, July 07, 2012
Supplementary voting system for Bristol's Mayoral election
Bristol’s first Elected Mayor (and the
city’s first Police Crime Commissioner) will be chosen this November using a
voting system called the supplementary
vote (though I suspect many Bristol voters
are as yet unaware of this due to the very poor level and quality of
information that’s been made available). This system means you
have votes to cast for two candidates ie you can choose first and second
preferences. At the count the electoral authorities start by totaling all
the first preference
votes. Any candidate achieving over 50% wins, though with many candidates
standing – including all the political parties plus independents - this is
unlikely to happen. If no-one gets 50% the authorities eliminate all but the
top two candidates, and in a second round redistribute all the votes for
everybody else by the second
preference on the ballot paper.
Here’s
the Electoral reform Society guide to the supplementary voting system: http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/supplementary-vote/
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