Local elections: Should parties offer a 'preferred candidate' to boost vote?

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Local elections in May. As we can see from the Gordon & Denton by-election, tactical voting is alive and well.

As I recall, each main party offers up three candidates to be councillors. This doesn't help with floating voters who want to hedge their bets. For instance, in my area in Surrey, Labour don't stand a chance really. Reform might. The Tories might. The Lib Dems - who came nowhere in Gordon and Denton - are on the upswing here but I don't like them that much, I might give Green a bit of a protest vote. That's all very well, but it could let in either the Tories or Reform, who I hate, so splitting the vote and getting the opposite or what I want.

Now - might it not be an issue for the Greens, say, while offering their three candidates, to promote one of them as the 'and if you only vote for one Green, vote for this one!'?

This way, I could vote for two Lib Dems and do a third vote for a Green. Any floating voters could put a cross against one Green candidate and if it's the same candidate, that vote will count - otherwise, well, those stray votes might well get spread out/diluted across those three Green candidates so it's not enough for any of them to get across the line. It avoids wasted votes.

Admittedly, the same could apply to Labour, who don't stand much of a chance here, or Reform. It's really a way of tactical voting that assists democracy imo.

Surely with local elections, you vote for who you think will best serve the community ?

Each ward usually only has one candidate from each party. I'm not sure why you think there would be 3?
And 1st past the post wins

I thought the issue was parties finding candidates to stand in the locals ?

It's been a while since I voted - am I confusing it with the borough elections?

As for the candidate who best serves the community, in an ideal world, yes - but we all know the local elections are a sort of traitor or dress rehearsal for the main elections.

And almost 1 in 3 do .....

I meant 'trailer' for main elections, not traitor.

There is a mix though - local council here has 3 member, 2 member and single member wards. I’m in a three member ward and, though as another op has pointed part of the minority who vote in a local election, have almost always voted for individuals as opposed to a specific party - with those individuals sometimes from different parties. And on occasion have only used 2 of my available 3 votes. Must be a pain for those who have to do the count though. One member per ward seems a lot more straightforward.

Yes our wards have 3 members but they are elected on a rolling programme, so only one winner, joining experienced councillors each year.

We have one candidate per ward. I’ve voted LibDem in all local elections but I may well go Green next time.