to vote against AV just because I can't stand Nick Clegg?

[headfairy]

Or is that just handing the Tories a victory and cutting off my nose to spite my face? I'm truly undecided about AV but I'd like to see NC royally whooped for being such a two faced twunt.

'I guess this is a fair outcome but if you say to the people living in that constituency "good news 55% of you support the Tories and you've got what most people want" then I think they would disagree with you.
'

Very true

but certainly in the last election I know of lots of people who swayed between two options: Lab / Lib Dem, Lab / Plaid etc. I think an AV system would be better representative of a country's general leanings and potentially ahve reduced those people who voted LD in a close run with lab and now feel they seriosuly mispalced their vote (and I know many).

I almost voted Lib Dem because I know and admire the local candidate, if not the party, and would certainly prefer her to party we will call B. Overlap between A and LD was strong (voted for A)in terms of where I stand but certainly nothing in common with B (sorry LOL, not as if my allegiances ar nto well known- pretending to be subtle!)

Had I been able to vote A, LD, B i'd have faced a fair larger chance of getting a party at least representing some of my views than if I had just voted A, iyswim?

As it happend 'my' party got in anyway but I feel the voting selection I made for the Assembly with AV mbetter represented my feelings than the single option for our MP.

Is it all about outcome though?

We have a society where people feel alienated by the political system; where fewer vote and many seem totally disengaged.

There is a possibility that AV could lead to people feeling they had a greater input, that there is a reflection of their overall preferences possible and that they are not faced with a choice of vote the way they want and see no change (eg Green / Plaid / UKIP / and yes BNP much as I loathe them) or be able to express their actual wishes whilst retaining a chance to influence the outcome via round two in terms of 'bigger party' politics.

See, I would think people will feel that they have more of a stake.

Is an interesting debate. Am saddened by the lack of coverage it gets, and people (like Anita Dobson on One Show yesterday- which probably has greater mass appeal than the crap I watch) shaking their heads in bemusement at how it works. It's really not hard.

There's also the problem of people using their 2nd and 3rd choices to keep a party/candidate out rather than for any particularly positive reasons. Not sure I like the idea of a "tactical" voting system. Also, whilst the BNP are beyond the pale, I do wonder how many right wing Tories might vote UKIP as a second choice (just to keep Labour/LibDem out). (I know one or two who have already done so at least once as a "protest" vote).

We absolutely need PR imho, but I'm certain AV isn't the way forward at this juncture.

I think the Green vote example is a good one. Lots of people would probably like to vote Green, but know it's a completely wasted vote in most places.

At least with AV people could show their true preference - say, Green - while accepting that their second choice would actually get the seat. The media, who are so important in forming policy, would see that lots of people are really quite Green.

YABU. Vote against AV because it's a stupid system that will make very little difference to how fair elections are, not because you hate Clegg.