I'm voting "Yes"!

After weeks of campaigning for the various elections being held throughout the UK tomorrow, and months of campaigning for the referendum that will involve the whole adult population, the time to cast votes is almost upon us.

As far as the Scottish Parliament is concerned, I still haven't made up my mind as to who will receive my support.  However, on the referendum, I am in no doubt.  I will be voting 'Yes' to change, and a departure from the "first past the post" system that has long outlived its usefulness.

I added a video to my Facebook page, yesterday, and was asked why, if only three other countries use the Alternative Vote system, I was so obviously in favour of it.  I turned to my catering background in order to provide an analogy!  If I have spent my whole life living on cheap minced beef (and that would still, by the way, make me better fed than the average citizen of North Korea, and of many other parts of the world!), and dreamed of having fillet steak for dinner each evening, I wouldn't refuse a plate of good quality stewed beef!  Of course it wouldn't be exactly what I wanted, but it would be a lot better than what I had.

The AV system is not, nor is it near to, full proportional representation.  However, it is a step in the right direction.  With the FPTP system, in a 'safe' Labour seat, my personal vote is always going to be wasted - as I would never vote for the Labour Party.  With AV, my vote may still be wasted - but only if I have voted for the person who receives the lowest number of votes.  Otherwise, I get, not a second vote (as the 'No' campaigners have erroneously, and mischievously, claimed), but the opportunity for my single vote to be given to the candidate whom I considered to be the second-best on the voting slip.

This means that, in my own constituency, the sitting incumbent will have to take more notice when I write to him about particular matters.  According to past election results, he has never enjoyed the support of 50% of the voters.  But with FPTP that didn't matter.  As long as he received even one vote more than any other candidate, he was home and dry - a job for life in this neck of the woods!  With AV, he will be depending on non-Labour voters placing him as their second choice.  If people are not satisfied with his performance, then they might only place him at No.3, or 4 - and that would probably mean that one of his opponents would reach the 50% threshold before him.  That certainly sounds like an improvement to me.

I'll be at my local Polling Station, tomorrow, encouraging folk to vote "Yes".  I trust that many will do so.