STV for BC - Vote Yes!

Monday, May 09, 2005

Last Week!

So there's only one week left until the referendum. I think I've said pretty much all I have to say about the proposed Single Transferable Vote system. As a voter you get more choice, a much better chance of having representation and a legislature whose members actually reflect the votes cast in the election. In return you have to put up with a more complicated counting procedure - that's pretty much all it comes down to.

So with one week left I encourage everyone to tell their friends, family and so on to get informed and if people are getting scared by all the 'no'-side's fear-mongering just point out that they've been using this system in Ireland and Australia for the better part of a century and not only are they doing fine, they wouldn't switch back to our system if you asked them. In fact, the Irish were asked a couple of times but they kept saying no, we wannt to keep STV, so eventually the politicians gave up and learned to live with a system which puts more power in the hands of voters and less in the hands of parties.

2 Comments:

  • Just one thing -- might be good for a link -- the Nelson Daily News had a five-part debate between Yes/No. Here it is: http://community.netidea.com/ccbc/STV_debate.htm

    By Blogger Mike, at 9:33 PM  

  • Thanks for the link Mike. Could be just me but those 5 topics look like they were chosen by the No side: "is STV bad for business?, c'mon. Where was the debate on "Is First-Past-the-Post bad for Democracy"? :)

    Seriously why would you pick those 5 topics and not look at things like proportionality or choice for voters?

    And for the advantages/disadvantage section, your 'Yes' writer at least considered one con of STV while you gave only a list of disadvantages of STV.

    Maybe it's me and I'm biased but the whole thing looks a bit like spin dressed up as a 'neutral' debate.

    By Blogger Declan, at 10:38 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home