Grab and change it, it's yours

[venta]

Does anyone know what the actual text which is actually going to appear on the actual ballot papers on May 5th is? A bit of googling hasn't turned up any results for me, but the pages I was finding suggest to me that I may have been going about my searching in the wrong way.

I'm kind of assuming that the ballot paper will look broadly like this:

[Poll #1729575]

Now, lots of campaigners would have you believe that this is analogous to:

[Poll #1729576]

And lots of other campaigners would have you believe it's analogous to:

[Poll #1729577]

You'll notice that the second two polls allow the results to be interpreted as pol(l)ar opposites.

So, does anyone know exactly what the question is? More to the point, has the government made any commitment at all about what they're going to do with the results, how they'll be interpreted, or whether Cameron will (in fact) go "oh, that's nice" and carry on regardless with the existing system?

Comments

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

It does make sense, but I find myself slightly bemused anyway.

Over 80% of people used their second choice in the last London mayoral election, despite the fact that 78% of people voted first-choice for one of the candidates whom all the polling said would be the final two.

In fact I'm surprised by the actual voting behavior, and taking on board that surprise causes me to *also* be surprised that fewer than 50% used their second preference in the AV mock election.

Something, perhaps the fact that second-choice totals are published "above the fold" of the returning officers' statement, causes people to express a second choice in London when it makes no difference to the result of any round of voting. Something else then causes them to not express a second choice in the mock-AV even though it would affect the result.

[condign.livejournal.com]

Isn't the most obvious candidate for the difference that these are two separate polities? The mock election was not limited to Londoners. I would expect their voting habits to be different, just as I would not be shocked to find DC Metro area voters to behave differently than US voters as a whole. Not saying that is the only explanation, but at least an obvious line of inquiry.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

True - any electorate that gives the Greens 16.9% on FPTP is already pretty unusual. They got 3% of the first round in the mayoral election.

So I guess I don't mean that some reason causes "them" to omit the second preference in the mock election. It's a different "them", but still there's a big contrast. Someone, probably a candidate chasing second-preference votes, is going to want to know the reason.

[condign.livejournal.com]

I was thinking more along the lines of "It's a national capital, with an electorate that will likely be more informed on major and national political issues than the country as a whole may be." Particularly since the form of vote to be used was a major issue in London when the elected mayor was restored. On this issue, they may simply be better informed and experience than the rest of the UK.