The X factor
Everyone should cast their vote in the elections on 3 May says Andrew Burnet.
emocracy: from the Greek demos (the people) and
kl‘utux (strength). Defined
by Lincoln as 'government of the people. by the people. and for the people‘. Defined by (‘hurchill as 'the worst form of govermnent — except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time’. Whatever its faults and virtues. democracy is the system by which Scotland is run today. and the best opportunity for the populace to influence government is through elections. Yet many people fail to vote. At the lirst elections for the Scottish Parliament in l999. voter turnout was around ()0 per cent: by the 2003 election it had dropped to
49.4 per cent: just under half of
those eligible.
The third election for the Scottish Parliament takes place on 3 May this year. alongside elections for all Scotland‘s local councils. And in the run-up to the ballot. a campaign called VoteScotland has been launched to encourage participation.
The campaign is a joint initiative by the Scottish lixecutive and the [ilectoral Commission. 'We want to tell people that politics is personal to you.‘ says Andy ()‘Neill. head of the Iilectoral Commission's Scottish office. ‘A lot of people just don't realise that
MSPs and councillors make lots of
decisions which affect our everyday lives. The journey to work. the night out. the licensing laws — they influence all these things. So if you want to have people elected who reflect your views. you should get out and vote..
But. he adds. it‘s not just about people who are failing to vote.
‘We‘re targeting all 3.9 million of
the Scottish electorate. because this is a unique electoral event.‘ On 3 May voters will be using two different electoral systems. As in I999 and 2003. MSPs will be elected in the same way by the Additional Members System (AMS). This system allows each
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voter two votes: one for a political party: the other for a constituency MSP (who may belong to a
different party). As well as electing individual MSPs. this allows ‘[.ist’ MSPs to be elected for each region. based on the proportion of votes cast for their party.
The innovation this year is that the council elections will be run using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system. This is another
‘IF YOU WANT TO HAVE PEOPLE ELECTED WHO REFLECT YOUR VIEWS YOU SHOULD GET OUT AND VOTE'
form of proportional representation. which allows voters to vote for as many of the candidates in their ward as they want. However. voters must rank the candidates in preference. by writing I against their favourite choice. 2 against the next favourite and so on.
The counting of these votes will involve complex calculations — but do voters really need to grapple with the arithmetic'.’ Andy believes the public are more than capable of working out the new voting system for themselves as they did with the first Scottish parliamentary elections back in I999. which also employed an unfamiliar system.
The campaign is focusing on participation. information on how to cast votes and registration. Andy explains: 'You‘ve got to write for the Scottish Parliamentary elections: and
order of
numbers for the local government elections.‘
Andy is confident that voters will grasp the new system easily enough. 'The Scottish electorate is not stupid.’ he says. ‘There was a great fear in I999 that people wouldn‘t understand the new electoral system. but we found that not to be the case. And lots of things are being put in place to assist the voter who needs reassurance.‘ For the first time there will be assistants on hand in every polling station who will be able to answer any questions voters may have.
The one thing that will prevent you from voting is failure to register. About eight per cent of the Scottiin electorate are not registered. according to Andy. and you are advised to check.
VoteScotland is already campaigning among sectors of society where registration is low.