Youthstart help make sense of voting system

Youthstart help make sense of voting system

24.01.07

A clear and entertaining online graphic that explains how the Single Transferable Voting (STV) system will work in May’s local elections, is now available here:

http://www.youthstart.org/STV/

Moray Youthstart has developed it to encourage young people’s participation in the democratic process. Moray Council has adopted it, and a number of other local authorities are showing interest.

Youthstart says: “We want to encourage all young people to take part in the democratic process, particularly locally and so it made sense that they should be the driving force behind bringing understanding of STV to Moray.

“After a small amount of publicity in the local press we are now getting enquiries about badging this for other councils, which we will be delighted to do for a small charge.”

The graphic has been develped as a unique collaboration between Moray Youthstart as part of Moray Community Planning Partnership, The Moray Council, and Colourjam, a young, Moray-based web development company.

STV has had many proponents over the years as a systme that is fairer than first past the post, but a frequent concern with STV among electorates considering its adoption is its relative complexity. When the Canadian province of British Columbia held a referendum on adopting the BC-STV Single Transferable Vote in 2005, according to polls most of the “no” voters gave their reason as “wasn’t knowledgeable” when they were asked why, specifically, they voted against STV.

The concept of transferable voting was first proposed by Thomas Wright Hill in 1821. The system remained unused in real elections until 1855, when Carl Andrae proposed a transferable vote system for elections in Denmark.

http://www.youthstart.org/STV/