Rashon Mack

E. Caruso
Inquiry Path Synthesis Paper
UWRT 1103-017
10/1/15

Since the conception of Democracy in Ancient Greece, scholars, kings, and laymen alike have all
been interested in finding ways to improve the democratic process. As Western society has
grown we have learned from the Greek mistake of direct democracy that a good idea can spiral
into chaos if not maintained or innovated upon with genuine effort. Today in most Western &
Eastern societies we have come to agree on a few basic principles that keep democracy safe and,
for the most part, reliable for the masses of constituents in each nation. Of those principles are
that a separation of power should exist between branches of government, that secular
government is necessary to appeal to and maintain order in certain nations, and that each man
should have the right to vote un-infringed upon as a basic natural right. Although we agree (for
the most part) on all of these principles, the latter is subject to interpretation and to the sociopolitical history of a nation; we have come to realize that not every nation uses the same or
similar voting systems for a myriad of reasons. When we come to terms with this realization we
can also appreciate the fact that the voting system of a nation is static and subject to change as
the society adopts a new form of thought. As an example of this, in the past few decades the
popularity of the Alternative Vote System has been growing in the United Kingdom. For these
reasons we may ask: What are the potential socio-political impacts of adopting the Alternative
Vote System in the UK?

In order to understand what the possible implications for the Alternative Vote System are in the
UK, it is necessary to understand the current system. Currently, the official national voting
system in the United Kingdom is First Past the Post Voting in which each citizen of the country
is allowed one vote for a particular candidate. The United Kingdom is a Parliamentary
Democracy, meaning that each voter elects one Member of Parliament (MP) for their particular
district to serve as their representative in Parliament. In total there are 650 constituencies and
thus 650 seats in Parliament. In the United Kingdom a culture of party politics has existed since
the late 17th century. This legacy has lasted for hundreds of years, creating the contemporary UK
parliamentary system in which the party with the majority of seats in parliament elects the Prime
Minister and administers government policy for a five year period. Concerns for FPTP grew out
of weak governments spanning from the 1970s to the early 1980s. British citizens in particular
were outraged by the inefficiencies of their governments and began to draw support for
alternative methods of voting. Among these support grew for the Alternative Vote System.

Although AV is not practiced nationally in the UK it is utilized in the House of Lords, the upper
chamber of British parliament. Within the House of Lords AV is used to elect the Lord Speaker
and to elect new ministers during election cycles. Here, many MPs have expressed satisfaction
with the system due to the broadened value of their vote and its results which are generally more
representative. The House of Lords is much smaller than a nation of millions so it is necessary to
analyze the effectiveness of the system in national elections elsewhere in the world. Fortunately
there exists a nation with a large, parliamentary democracy that utilizes AV in nation elections:
Australia. In a 1918 referendum Australia opted to use AV for country-wide elections in place of
FPTP. This resulted in the growth of less popular parties in competition with larger, more

established parties. Many coalition governments were formed in the wake of the decision that
produced stronger and, seemingly, much more representative governments in Australian
parliament. Today, voter turnout remains high and more Australians express satisfaction with
their governments than their British counterparts.
Although AV has seen so much success in Australia and other parts of the world where it is
utilized in major elections, it has its faults. For Australia in particular, case studies have surfaced
that point towards AV election results being almost identical to FPTP. Overall the main
complaints about AV are that it has the capacity to produce coalition governments made up of
smaller and more radical parties, voters are prone to Donkey Voting, and that it can frequently
produce unfavorable 3-way ties between candidates. These concerns are important to note as
they are not usually made known to voters when presented with information about the system.
For these reasons, and due to the legacy of FPTP in British politics, in a 2011 referendum voters
opted overwhelmingly against AV. Specific concerns most anti-AV voters expressed were that it
seemed too complex to understand, stigma against coalition governments, and that it wouldnt
produce results that were significantly more representative of constituent choice.

The talk since the referendum has been focused mainly on the possibility of tweaking AV to
become the system it is so bolstered to be. There have been smaller circles of thought concerning
the use of a version of AV called AV+ that allows voter to either vote for a specific candidate or
specific party on a top-up section of the ballot along with their preferential list. However
optimistic these ideas may appear, citizens of the country have made it clear that AV and many
other voting systems besides FPTP will have a long way to go before they are seriously

reconsidered. For now the United Kingdom with continue on with its legacy of single, nontransferable voting.

Bibliography:
1.

"Alternative Vote." Www.electoral-reform.org. UK Electoral Reform Society,

n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.

2. "Instant Runoff Voting." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 06 Oct.

2015.

3. "What Is the Alternative Vote? - BBC News." BBC News. British Broadcasting
Company, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.

4. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61098/first
-past-the-post-alternative-vote.pdf
5. Australia: The Alternative Vote System ." Australia: The Alternative Vote
System . Ace Project, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.

6. Voting Systems in the UK." UK Parliament. UK Parliament, n.d. Web. 06 Oct.

2015.

7. Pingelly, Teri. "10 Reasons the AV Referendum Was Lost."

Www.theguardian.com. The Guardian, n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2015.