AV: Anthony Green on how it works in Australia.

The following is a repost of an article from our friends at Yes To Fairer Votes:

Last week, you may have heard the speech where David Cameron said that “six out of ten” Australians want to abandon AV and return to a first past the post voting system.
But is it true?
Not so, says one of Australia's most respected broadcasters, Antony Green, who over the last few days has stepped in to clarify a few things about AV, preferential voting, and how it works in his country.

From Green’s post on ABC.net:

The problem is, the Prime Minister's statement is based on a single survey, and that survey was one in which the Alternative Vote was not even an option

Green also added that the survey was conducted in the weeks following a federal election that ended in stalemate, and a controversial move by the independents to help keep the Gillard government in office - Both, he reasons, could have sparked an out-of-the-ordinary anti-election sentiment amongst the electorate.
But Antony Green has done a lot more than simply refute Cameron’s bogus quote about Australians turning on AV. Over the past weeks, he’s posted some of the smartest analysis around about AV, and how it’s worked in Australia and elsewhere.
He recently wrote an article rebutting some of the No campaign's other misleading claims and reposted a long and informative article he wrote in 2004 when AV was on the ballot in Australia, with a introduction detailing the key differences between the UK and Australian versions. It’s a great read for anyone looking for a little more background on how votes are counted in an AV system.


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