Contributor Leaderboard

That's assuming everyone else wants Parma Violets, the rest of the world hates eating flowery girl sweets and couldn't give a monkeys about Parma Violets. It'll make no difference to the !*!@# we're expected to vote for. They're all products of the same public school system. We're better off voting smarties to save eating dog !*!@#, which is why conservatives got in, the public don't really want them but couldn't stomach another 5 years of !*!@# and voting orange is a waste of a vote

May 5th we are being asked to choose............ In the present, first past the post system, any candidate with a majority of votes cast wins. In the AV system the winner has to have 50%+ of the votes cast. Instead of putting a cross next to one candidate you put a numbered choice next to as many as you want, 1-2-3 etc. according to your preferences. If no candidate gets the required 50%+ on the first count then the candidate with the least votes gets eliminated and their second choice votes are added to whichever preference is marked. If a candidate still doesn't have 50%+ then the next one with fewest votes is eliminated and their second choice votes are added to whichever. If the electorate is 100 voters the vote might go something like this: Candidate A gets 40% Candidate B gets 30% Candidate C gets 20% Candidate D gets 10%. At present candidate 'A' would win because they got the majority of votes cast. Under AV no candidate would win, none got 50%+, and a second count would be needed. In this case candidate 'D' would be eliminated and his second choice would be added to whoever. Let's say his second votes all went to candidate B which would give that candidate 40%, same as 'A', but still short of the 50% needed. Next candidate 'C' gets eliminated, having the next least amount of votes cast, and their second choice is added into the mix. Again let's say they go to candidate 'B' giving them 60% and therefore becoming the winner. This is just a simplified version before the politicos on here start shouting!