On 5th May, the UK goes to the polls to determine if it wants to change the election process currently used to something different.
The current process is First Past the Post (FPTP), the suggested amendment is to change the process to Alternative Vote (AV).
FPTP is fairly simple, you have one vote, whoever gets the most votes in a constituency wins the election. Whichever party wins over 50% of the constituencies gets to form the next government.
AV is more complicated. You have a list of candidates and you list them in order. If no one candidate gets 50% of the vote, the votes from the lowest placed candidate are transferred to the other candidates until one of the gets 50% of the vote and wins the constituency. Whichever party wins over 50% of the constituencies gets to form the next government.
FPTP is simpler and provides a strong elected government, whereas AV is more likely to lead to coalition governments
AV Forces the MP to appeal to a wider proportion of the voters, whereas FPTP can be elected by a minority of the voters.
AV can allow you to choose multiple candidates, but FPTP is the archetypal one man, one vote.
More on the campaign against AV here
More on the campaign for the AV here
So which method would you choose?