(One of a series of regular posts on the run up to the AV referendum on May 5th. As the post makes clear, I’m in favour of voting Yes. For those whom it concerns, I believe the question is either a choice between FPTP and AV – or between standing still and electoral reform – and not what I think is the best voting system.)
We are now living, some say, in the Information Age. If this is an exaggeration, it is only a small one. As companies like Google demonstrate, raw data and processed information is an incredibly valuable resource. It is essential in everything from developing cures to planning transport systems to managing pension funds.
Information also plays an essential role in a democracy. The electoral process is a data gathering exercise; our representation in Parliament and the local council is determined by counting our votes. Voters’ preferences also play a role influencing decisions such as policy making and candidate selection. It stands to reason, then, that in a modern democracy we want high quality information about who the voters actually support.
From this perspective, AV is the same as most voting systems, including proportional systems such as STV, other preferential systems such as Condorcet methods, and those such as approval voting where voters place as many X’s as they like on the ballot paper. In all these cases, the voter gives support to as many candidates as they like, and in most of them also provide for either expressing preferences or degrees of support.
First Past The Post is a terrible system in comparison. The quality of data is abysmal, because a single X cannot be used for to indicate an individual’s opinion where there are more than two candidates on the ballot. At the most fundamental level, FPTP makes it impossible to gather basic information about the electorate’s collective choice.
Speak to anyone dealing with significant issues – corporate executives, climatologists, cabinet ministers, combatants, just to mention a few starting with “c” – and they will tell you the importance of information, and how useful modern techniques are for gathering and processing it. The electoral process is no different, and we should take the simple step of improving the quality of information that feeds into selecting the winner.
Better information on voter’s opinions doesn’t get the heart pumping. Nonetheless, better information means better governance. FPTP collects poor quality data, and most of us have heard the old “garbage in, garbage out” phrase. I’m not being naîve and suggesting AV will suddenly and drastically improve the standard of Parliamentary candidates. Rarely however do we find that better information leads to worse outcomes.