How low can you go?

[quintus_marcius]

On Thursday, there will be local elections in the United Kingdom. Well, in some places. Scotland and Wales will be electing their Parliament and Assembly, very significant bodies, while London will have no local elections at all, barring the occasional by-election for a local councillor. And yet everyone in the country has received a polling card,

Comments

[lareinemisere]

I haven't been following the campaigning closely but, from what I have seen of it, you surprise me not at all.

>If the electorate are so bad at understanding arguments that they have to be simplified to the point of misrepresentation, then we have much worse problems as a society than how we elect our MPs.

We surely do.

>the electorate should be able to vote for who they want to represent them, in order of preference, and not worry about whether to vote tactically. If this does not happen, it will not be the fault of the electoral system.

I think tactical voting will still happen, a bit - but I don't think we'd entirely lose tactical voting even with full-on PR.

I hope for a Yes vote, but I'm not convinced we're going to get one. The 'give Nick Clegg a kicking' crowd seems to be winning over a lot or people.

[quintus_marcius]

You are probably right about the tactical voting. Apparently in Australia parties distribute voting cards with suggested preference lists. As a game-player, I am fully aware of the potential to manipulate any system of rules.