All-homes poll on pan-island voting
Saturday 19th September 2009, 2:29PM BST.
DETAILED options for island-wide voting were released yesterday.
States Assembly and Constitution Committee chairman Ivan Rihoy (pictured) revealed a questionnaire setting out four alternative voting systems that will be sent to every house.
‘We will know once and for all what people really want,’ he said. ‘It has never been done before so comprehensively.’
Option A: Deputy Rihoy’s personal favourite involves most seats being voted for on an island-wide basis, and 10 seats being voted for on a parish-only basis – one deputy for each parish.
That would ensure every parish was represented and help new candidates compete with returning members, he said.
Electors would have 10 votes each and parish and island-wide elections would be on one day.
Option B: involves all deputies being voted for on an island-wide basis with each elector afforded as many votes as there are seats.
Option C: would see all 45 deputies being elected on the current district basis in 2012. The highest-polling 24 would serve four years and the remaining 21 face re-election after two. Thereafter, biennial elections would choose approximately half the Assembly for a four-year term.
This would be phase-in island-wide voting so electors were not required to vote for all members in one election.
Option D: is to keep the 2008 election system, with deputies voted in on a district basis.
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As someone who support island wide voting in some shape or form I look forward to receiving this questionnaire.
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I believe passionately in Island wide voting and the concept will get my full support when it comes to the States, it is one of the changes that I do believe the States needs to make and although I have served in the parochial district system of voting I believe all those on the electoral roll should have the opportunity to vote in all the members of the house.What’s wrong with the present voting system?
“If the present system of election does not need reform, why do three out of every four voters stay home on polling day?”
“The government gets elected in spite of the present voting system, not because of it.”
“The voter gets so little choice, the result would be almost the same if they all stayed home.”
“Some candidates poll thousands more votes than successful candidates and still do not gain a seat.”
“Some voters get seven votes and some get none at all.”
“Politicians can stand for office in any parish they choose. The voter is told where he can vote and between whom he can choose.”
“Politicians make decisions on behalf of all the people in the island but only serve to answer to those voting in their parish.”
“The existing electoral system was devised by politicians, to serve the needs of politicians. Should it not serve the needs of the people?”
“Asking the voter to choose five candidates from six standing for office is not an election, it is a lottery to see who will get the shortest straw.”
“We need to make all our politicians accountable to all of the people.”
“People need to feel their vote matters, when they see that it doesn’t, they find other things to do on Election Day.”
“Politicians should not be allowed to escape the wrath of the electorate by switching parishes to improve their chances”
Extract from Minority Report on IWV by Deputy Dave Jones 2005
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Getting the electoral process right is much more important than believing that if we slim down the government machine that in some way it will give us more legitimacy to govern. That can only come from the ballot box and our people are deserting it in droves.
In Guernsey, candidates are elected in the main on the basis that they and their political views are known to the electorate. In the case of a sitting member seeking re election, past performance also has a huge bearing. Voters are to some extent also influenced by what is published in the candidate’s manifesto. The key distinction in Guernsey however is that the voter is disbarred from voting for the candidate somewhere across the island who’s political views accord closely with their own. He can only vote from among those candidates standing in his or her parish or electoral district, it matters not what views they hold, as they are the only candidates on offer. Because of this unsatisfactory situation it would be hard to argue that it does not represent a significant denial of democracy.
It should also be remembered that a candidate is not required to live in the parish in which he chooses to stand and can change parishes as and when they see fit. We have all witnessed Deputies shifting parishes in the past, to one where they believe they have a better chance of getting in This is an option that is denied the voter.
More importantly once elected the politician, should they choose, can ignore the concerns of the rest of the island electorate. They need only take heed of the wishes of the voters in their own particular parish, secure in the knowledge that these are the only voters who will have the power to remove them at the next election.
This situation at present leaves all the members of the House free to inflict unwelcome and unsympathetic development in any parish of their choosing, fully aware that the views of the residents of that parish will be of little consequence. Their vote cannot damage the chances of the people who made that decision outside the parish or electoral district in question.
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Some of you will remember that we conducted and IWV survey at the last election. We sent an electronic survey to our database with the 80+ names on it giving respondents a maximum of 20 votes.
The results were as follows:
Opens immediately as a PDF
http://www.submarine.gg/IslandWideResults.pdf
This may assist in the debate.
Regards
Neil Inder
Submarine Limited
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The problem with Island-wide voting is that something like 90 candidates stand for the States each time. A ballot paper with 90 names on it would be a monster. Voters would complain they got lost in a sea of names. Elections every two years (as well as tending to focus the Staes on short-term issues) would not help much as there would still be 70 or so candidates (90 less the deputies who did not need to seek re-election).
One way to make IWV practical would be to retain electoral districts as at present but to add, say, three blank lines to the ballot papers where voters could write in candidates from other districts whom they wanted to vote for. As long as no district declared it’s results before all had been counted it would be straight forward to transfer votes to the appropriate district. Candidates could chose whether to concentrate on a geographical area or an Island-wide interest group (or a mixture of the two) to find votes.
Incidentally, IWV in this form does not stop the Island introducing Preference Voting to give equal (and more) voting power to every voter.
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None of the options suggested appeal to me and I am disppointed that SACC have not come up with some better ideas.
The worst is option B which should not even have been suggested for the reasons Mike Falla has mentioned above.
The move to electoral districts was a good one in that it gave everyone a similar number of votes compared to the old days when people in St Peter Port, for example, could vote in 10 deputies but St Andrews could vote in none (often elected unopposed). I wouldn’t want option A which includes a parish element and the possibility of deputies being elected unopposed.
Option C would only work with a reduction of deputies and Option D has no IWV.
So SACC, you have failed to come up with a sensible option after all this time. This together with the current attempt to do away with the titles of minister and CM suggests to me that this committee should be disbanded as it serves no purpose to the Island.
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russm,
You say you oppose all four of the options in SACC’S consultation form.
What would be your preferred alternative method of election?
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matt
Without having had months to consider different options I could live with a variant of option A whereby there are effectively 2 elections – a district election where voters have say 5 votes each and the top 3 are elected and an IWV whereby voters have say 10 votes and the remaining deputies are elected excluding those polling in the top 3 of each district. Deputies would therefore need to poll high in their district or rely on an IWV to be elected thus preventing deputies sneaking in with only a very small number of votes in their district.
This method also would not be perfect as most votes cast on IWV could end up being for those polling in the top 3 of each district and therefore deputies could still sneak in with a low number of votes. Maybe the top 2 in each district would therefore work better – in any case this to me would be a better option than most of those suggested.
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russm,
Your idea is interesting. I hope you add it to the “other comments” section of the island-wide voting consultation form and send it back to the Committee.
As a slight variant on your preferred system, I suppose the district and island-wide elections could take place on different days so as to overcome, at least in part, the problem identified in your last paragraph.
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