St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

How does STV work?

A lot of people seem to think that STV (Single Transferable Voting) is very hard to understand. Our Annual Parochial Church Meeting decided we would use this method of election in future - so we thought we’d better publish a quick guide to how it works before we have to use it. It’s true it’s not as familiar as first-past-the-post, but it’s not much harder to understand.

What the voter does.

You get a ballot paper with a list of candidates. You put a 1 next to the one you most want to get elected. Then you ask yourself: “Suppose that one had already got in, or suppose s/he was so unpopular that s/he was ruled out. Which would be my second choice?” You put a 2 next to your second choice (if you’ve got one). Then a 3 next to your third choice, and so on, until you can’t be bothered any more.

As in all C of E elections, you sign the ballot paper on the back.

What the teller does.

You first check that all the votes are bona-fide. Then you turn over the papers, and puts them in piles for first-preference votes.

The “quota” is the number of votes a candidate needs to get elected: it’s the total number of votes divided by one more than the number of seats to fill. (So when the seats are filled, the remaining votes add up to less than the quota.)

If a candidate has more votes than the quota, s/he is declared elected. That uses up a certain fraction of each of his/her votes, so the remaining fraction of each vote is passed on to the second-choice candidate mentioned on the ballot paper. You repeat this paragraph until no candidate has more votes than the quota.

Then the candidate with the fewest votes is ruled out, and all his/her votes are passed on to the second choices. You repeat this paragraph until a candidate gets enough votes to make the quota - then it’s back to the previous paragraph.

Eventually the seats are all filled or the surplus candidates are all eliminated, and you can declare the result.

What’s the advantage?

Each vote gets used to support the equivalent of just one candidate, so the outcome represents the electorate more fairly. So the people, rather than the party, choose which candidates will represent them.

John Hartley

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. May 2003, Page 8.
Home Page. Index of articles. Democracy: index, The best win? Please vote, Tactical vote, Annual Meeting, STV. In this issue: (May 2003) Why vote? Jesus' absence, Iraq, STV.	How does STV work? A lot of people seem to think that STV (Single Transferable Voting) is very hard to understand. Our Annual Parochial Church Meeting decided we would use this method of election in future - so we thought we’d better publish a quick guide to how it works before we have to use it. It’s true it’s not as familiar as first-past-the-post, but it’s not much harder to understand. What the voter does. You get a ballot paper with a list of candidates. You put a 1 next to the one you most want to get elected. Then you ask yourself: “Suppose that one had already got in, or suppose s/he was so unpopular that s/he was ruled out. Which would be my second choice?” You put a 2 next to your second choice (if you’ve got one). Then a 3 next to your third choice, and so on, until you can’t be bothered any more. As in all C of E elections, you sign the ballot paper on the back. What the teller does. You first check that all the votes are bona-fide. Then you turn over the papers, and puts them in piles for first-preference votes. The “quota” is the number of votes a candidate needs to get elected: it’s the total number of votes divided by one more than the number of seats to fill. (So when the seats are filled, the remaining votes add up to less than the quota.) If a candidate has more votes than the quota, s/he is declared elected. That uses up a certain fraction of each of his/her votes, so the remaining fraction of each vote is passed on to the second-choice candidate mentioned on the ballot paper. You repeat this paragraph until no candidate has more votes than the quota. Then the candidate with the fewest votes is ruled out, and all his/her votes are passed on to the second choices. You repeat this paragraph until a candidate gets enough votes to make the quota - then it’s back to the previous paragraph. Eventually the seats are all filled or the surplus candidates are all eliminated, and you can declare the result. What’s the advantage? Each vote gets used to support the equivalent of just one candidate, so the outcome represents the electorate more fairly. So the people, rather than the party, choose which candidates will represent them. John Hartley
Top of page.	This web page was last updated on 9th May 2003.