If like me you’re a member of the Electoral Reform Society, you’ll have recently received a thick wad of paperwork through your letterbox. The reason? It’s time for the election to the Council of the ERS. The deadline for voting is this Friday, 26th August, so time’s not on your side to wade through the 53 manifestos of those standing for election.
Simon McGrath wrote about the elections here on Lib Dem Voice this week, sparking an interesting discussion thread. But here’s a further five posts (in no particular order) I’d personally recommend reading before deciding how to cast your vote:
- Electoral Reform Society elections – runners and riders (Mat Bowles)
- Chris’ notes on the ERS Council Elections (Chris Carrigan)
- ERS – The Wrong Kind Of Reform Slate? #yes2stv (Andrew Hickey)
- Voting in the Election of the Electoral Reform Society Council (Andy Strange)
- Why the Electoral Reform Society needs reform! (John Ault)
The full list of candidates for the ERS Council can be found here. Please feel free to use the thread below to highlight links you think would be of interest to Voice readers in deciding how to vote…
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10 Comments
I am standing with a group of candidates interested in reforming the ERS. Any Lib Dem member who wants to see electoral reform this century should realise that there isn’t a hope in hell with the current pressure group set up. The referendum campaign had serious internal problems which are directly attributable to the dysfunctional state of it’s two main funders and organisations working for for constitutional reform (namely the ERS and Rowntree Reform Trust). Whilst things have improved recently at the ERS a new team is needed to take things forward. I’ve written some more here: http://www.reformgroups.net/?q=node/92#comment-form So I hope you will consid supporting me and other new candidates with similar views
Lib Dems are usually noted for their sense of fair play, so I recommend those who are ERS members to look at http://stvaction.org.uk for another viewpoint before voting in the ERS Council election or on the ERS AGM resolutions.
The correct link to Andy’s post is http://www.reformgroups.net/?q=node/92 the one above will open up the comment box. Though you are bound to want to comment its probably worth reading the article first.
I’ve blogged the five questions I used to work out how to order the candidates:
http://www.markpack.org.uk/23566/electoral-reform-society-council-elections/
@Mark Pack
These questions are very helpful, Mark – especially for some of us who may have felt that some of the candidates’ views on the Special Resolutions seemed to be at odds with their aims of reforming the ERS.
Your personal recommendations present a very one-side view of the ERS by oursiders who seem to be basing their view of the organisation mainly on their experience of the AV campaign. Given how much money ERS put into that campaign, mortgaging its future, they look a pretty ungrateful bunch. See my article in Simon McGrath’s thread.
I’m one of those who has taken advantage of the free membership of the ERS for a year. I’m going to ask for clarification here. I contacted the ERS and two candidates last week but they have yet to reply.
I’ve gleaned (from the LibDem Voice) that there are 15 seats on Council. Am I right in assuming that I can vote for up to 15 candidates, ranked 1 to 15? It seems such a basic question.
@Jo
You can in theory rank all 53 candidates, but 10-20 (perhaps a round 15) seems about right to me if you are electing them by STV.
Like yourself, I have take advantage of the ERS offer. Like yourself, I have contacted candidates. In two or three instances I have found the conversations to be both helpful and revealing.
I spoke to one of the candidates on the reform slate yesterday evening who voiced their surprise that more contact phone nos. were not published in the booklet. Having initially emailed a couple of specific questions to one of the candidates and received a bromide ridden reply which told me nothing, I tend to agree. It is in any case discourteous of a candidate not to reply to you when contacted and I shouldn’t bother to vote for them. Once ensconced, they may prove to be as remote as those at the top of the recent referendum campaign.
Thanks Sean
Like you, I think it’s revealing when the candidates don’t give a contact email etc. It’s been ‘interesting’ on a few long bus journeys reading the candidates statements. Some of them have loads of spelling errors and some have paragraphs that simply don’t make sense. It’s revealing that you’ve had a bromide ridden reply from one candidate. I’ve got good resolutions to phone another (no email address given, and an area code that’s wrong by one digit) tonight.
Although I disagree with the candidate who wants all voting for the Council election to be on paper, I’d love to check out the software that will deliver the ERS Council results.
The other question that I’ve asked and not received an answer is:
Who are the members of the 2009-2011 Council who are standing again? I’d like to know that and look particularly carefully at their candidate statements.
Jo, the election is being done by STV, the system that the society stands for.
There’s a PDF file that shows how it here:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0By4jDvgHfePANmJkOTI2ZWYtOTQ0MC00ZTZjLWIxNzQtMjUyN2E5YTUwNDhl&hl=en_GB
It’s a great system and I recommend that you vote AGAINST special resolution 1! 🙂