Happy Referendum Day!!

Hey all! Today is the day that the referendum on electoral reform took place (hence the title of this post)! To give you all a bit of background, the referendum was agreed to in the coalition agreement between the Tories and Lib Dems. The referendum is asking people if the UK should switch from First Past the Post (FPTP), which is what we use to elect members to Alternative Vote (AV). Under AV, a candidate needs a majority of the vote to win the district (to compare, under FPTP, they only need a plurality). Each voter ranks the candidates in order of preference under AV. If no one receives a majority, the candidate who got the fewest votes is dropped and the votes of anyone who voted for them transfer to their second choice and so on until someone has a majority.

Neither party really wants AV as their first choice of an electoral system. The Conservatives want to keep FPTP (and have been aiding the No to AV Campaign). The Lib Dems would really prefer a system of Proportional Representation (PR), but will settle for AV. PR would mean that the percentage of votes they get is the percentage of seats they get (they have traditionally been shut out of the government despite winning between 15 and 25 % of the vote). AV is a compromise.

All polls indicate that the referendum will fail (No was ahead at 68% in the most recent polling data). However, turnout will be very important and we won't get those numbers until tomorrow (when we will also hear the results of the referendum). Regardless of whether or not the referendum passes, the very fact that this referendum has been held is historical. That is why I am going to conduct these interviews. And who knows, maybe we will learn tomorrow that the referendum passed and I will have an extra fun research project for the next few years. :)