Supplementary Vote Explained

Supplementary Vote A voting system where voters have a first and second choice. It elects a single person.

How Does it Work

How does it work? Each voter has two votes; a first choice and a second choice If one candidate gets more than 50% of first choice votes they’re successful If no candidate gets 50%, all but the top two most voted for candidates are eliminated The second votes of eliminated candidates are transferred to the remaining Now the candidate with the most votes wins

FIRST WAY TO VOTE They have voted for a different second choice to their first choice.

Second way to vote They have only made a first choice.

Third way to vote They have voted for the same person in both choices. This is just as effective as only making a first choice.

How it works: A

Scenario A Here are the results for the election. As Ben got more than 50% of the first choice votes he is announced winner. The second choice votes aren’t regarded as more than half the voters have agreed on a single candidate. 14 15 51 20 20 25 35

How it works: B

Scenario B Here no one has managed to get 50% of the first choice votes. The top two candidates go forward and everyone else is eliminated. Aiden and Ben go to the second round. 30 20 31 19

Scenario B Anjalee’s voters 2nd choice: Aiden – 8 Anjalee – 1 Ben – 7 Sadiki – 3 No second choice – 1 Sadiki’s voters 2nd choice: Aiden – 9 Anjalee – 2 Ben – 4 Sadiki – 4 No second choice – 0 Second votes for the same candidate, another candidate that has already been eliminated or the voter made no second choice will not be regarded.

Scenario B Here are the second votes are are regarded. Aiden has 47 votes Ben has 42 votes Even though less people chose Aiden as a first choice and he doesn’t have 50% of the votes, he is elected. 30 20 31 19 17 11

SV and the UK

Who uses it? The SV system is employed to elect single office-holders for a whole regional or local authority area. SV has been successfully used to elect the London Mayor since 2000 and all the other directly elected mayors in England subsequently. In 2012 it was employed for the first time to elect Police Commissioners in England and Wales.

Pros/Cons of SV

Pros of SV To some extent, SV encourages conciliatory campaigning, as gaining second- preference votes is important. It is a relatively simple system to understand. Promotes tactical voting

Cons of Sv Unlike the Alternative Vote, SV does not ensure that the winning candidate has the support of at least 50% of the electorate. SV strongly promotes voting for only candidates from the main three parties Bias towards the centre-left High wasted votes as many of the votes cast in the first round end up not transferring and being counted in the second round

Consequences

Consequences of Using SV Not much change from FPTP The majority of people around the country vote for the large parties (If the ballot reaches the 2nd round then the candidate doesn’t need 50% so not so different from FPTP) 2nd choice candidates are only counted if they are still in the ‘race’ so likelihood is they will be either Lab or Con. As seen in the London Mayoral elections, most people fail to understand the significance of the 2nd choice vote and they waste their 2nd choice vote on minority parties who have no chance. UKIP may have gained more seats since they came 2nd in many Labour constituencies; however that assumes peoples 2nd choice was UKIP not Labour which is unlikely. Not a proportional system so the main/regional parties are largely overrepresented just as they are now.