STV Flashcards
Where is STV used?
Used in northern Ireland for both assembly and local elections
What is STV an example of?
A proportional system
How many seats are typically available per constituency?
6
Explain how an STV election works
Each party is permitted to put as many candidates up as there are seats available. Voters place candidates in their order of preference using numbers. At the count, an electoral quota is calculated. Initially, the fiats preferences are counted for each candidate, and any candidates who achieve the quota are elected automatically. Next, the candidate that came last is eliminated and their second and subsequent preferences are added to the other candidates. If this results in an individual achieving the quota, they are elected. This process continues until six candidates have achieved the quota and are selected
How is an electoral quota calculated?
This is established by taking the total number of votes cast and dividing it by the number of seats available plus one
What is STV designed to achieve?
Ensures that voter preferences are aggregated to make sure that this six candidates who are most popular overall are elected. The overall outcome tends to be highly proportional, with each party achieving its fair share of the votes and seats
List the advantages of STV
- produces a broadly proportional outcome
- gives voters a very wide choice of candidates. The second and subsequent choices of voters are taken into consideration in the counting
- voters can vote for candidates from different parties and show a preference between candidates in the same party
- as there are six representatives per constituency, each voter can usually be represented by someone from the party they support
- it helps small parties and independent candidates get elected
List the drawbacks of STV
- it’s quite a complex system that some voters do not understand
- vote counting is complicated and can take a long time
- it can help extremist candidates get elected
- with six representatives per constituency, the lines of accountability are not clear
Multiple candidates from the same party running in one constituency would normally pose problems by splitting the vote. Why is this not a problem under STV?
If an elected member has an excess of votes after the first preferences come in, the excess votes will have their second choice taken into account instead, which will often be for another memer of the same party
Give statistics that discredit the idea that STV is too complicated for voter to understand
Turnout rose from 40% to 47% in the 2017 local elections
What does STV not necessarily promote?
Diversity. The proportion of women in the assembly was 22% in 2007, 24% in 2012 and 29% in 2017
Give a statistic which suggests that STV may have led to a participation crisis
Turnout in assembly elections declined from 70% in 1998 to 54% in 2011 and 2016. Although it could be argued that participation was inflated in 1998 due to the good Friday agreement
How much has turnout for northern Ireland assembly elections increased by in the last 10 years?
9%
What percentage of ballots were spoiled in the UK general election and the northern Ireland assembly elections respectively?
0.37% for Westminster and 0.19% for stormont. This discredits the idea that STV is too complex for voters to understand
What % of voters in northern Ireland said that STV was their preferred system
91
