I’m not sure how she was expecting me to be feeling. Other people have asked me if I’m disappointed, or sad or angry.  I could be all of these things but how I actually feel about the campaign is proud.

I am disappointed about the result but I’m proud about the way we campaigned in Edinburgh. Everyone has put as much time and effort into the campaign as they could spare.   I am really humbled and inspired by how much my companionaros have put in.  So many of them have done so much. Much, much more than anyone had any right to ask or expect of them.  That’s volunteers for you. They volunteer.

They certainly put in the hours. Hours of flyering on the streets of Edinburgh and the Lothians. Hours of phone calls. Hours of leafleting. Hours of writing letters and articles and blogs. They’ve also done all this work in a really positive way. We’ve tried to engage with voters. We’ve tried to be honest and positive and to keep our focus on what the people get out of a change to the system.

Standing for hours in the rain trying to persuade people to vote for a positive change is hard work.

Harder work is trying to campaign in the way that we have tried to do it. When we first started organising the Edinburgh group we sat down in the pub and talked about how we wanted to do things.  We wanted to be able to discuss politics but without making partisan digs at each other. We wanted to treat each other with respect. We wanted to have fun. We wanted everyone to come away from the process having been enriched by it. I think we succeeded and I’m proud to have played my part in creating the group.

I’ve certainly been enriched by my experience of the campaign.

I’ve had the opportunity to talk with people from lots of different political parties and from none about what they believe and why they believe it. I’ve been forced to slow down and listen to what they have to say.  So I’ve learnt a lot. I’ve learnt about other view points. I’ve learnt how to listen and to ask more open questions. I’ve learnt how to have my mind changed.

We were campaigning for a change in the electoral system not because we personally benefited from the different system but because we believe that if you change the system, you change the way we all do politics. If the system encourages consensus and broad appeal it means more co-operation, better synthesis of different views and needs,  more network and relationship building and less aggressive adversarial hectoring bullying power hungry and desperately personal politics.

I wanted to be part of a new way of doing politics. I still do and I am.  I wanted to help create a group that tried to campaign in the way we wanted all our politicians to campaign. I wanted our local campaign to be about Us and the People having a conversation, not Me.  I think we achieved that. I think we’ve shown that there can be a different way of doing things. Even if only we noticed the difference we’ve still done things in a better way.

The point of the last year is that elections are for the people to decide. I can’t own the outcome but I can own my own process.  I can’t pick the result. The only thing I can control is what I do. The only thing we can control is how we do what we do. The process of the campaign, in Edinburgh, has been right. I don’t mean that the operations have been perfect and smooth and brilliant. I mean how we’ve worked together and how we’ve engaged with our fellow citizens.

I’ve really enjoyed the work I’ve done for the campaign. I’ve learnt a lot about other people and about myself and I’m proud of what we’ve done and how we’ve done it. We did our best and we did it in the best possible way.

I’m not disappointed. I’m proud.

Wouldn’t it be right and fair if all elections were like that? I’d like an electoral system where more votes are counted and no votes are wasted. Where how much influence you had over the result wasn’t determined by which suburb you lived in. Where more than just 1.6% of voters who live in marginal seats decided the who the government was. Well the Alternative Vote helps.

The average power of a voter is currently 0.285 under First Past the Post. This means that the average voter has just over ¼ of a vote. Using the Alternative Vote this increases by 23.5% to 0.352. This creates 44 more marginal seats. Candidates will have to aim for 50% of the vote and reach out to more voters more often. Small parties and independents will have the same fighting chance as the larger parties to appeal to voters.

The Alternative Vote is a simple and fair way to increase the power of voters in all the constituencies of the UK.

First there is is the Dan Snow Video

It has a good explaination of how the system works and it has Dan Snow in it and I like him. He comes across as wise but still the kind of chap you’d go for a pint with but it promotes drinking beer and I need to lose weight and I can’t drink beer. Mmmh.

Second there is the Stephen Fry video.

It’s got Stephen Fry in it. Stephen bloody Fry and as if that isn’t enough it also explains how simple the Alternative Vote is but I’m not sure about the cartoon and it does have the phrase not fit for purpose which in the Editor’s opinion is not fit for purpose. Also, every has always like Stephen Fry most and I think it might be time for a change.

Thirdly there is the video that the Yes Campaign shot last week in Edinburgh and all round the country.

This one has Eddie Izzard and it’s also got my dad in it! That’s my dad, there, in one of the flicky quick bits.  I like Eddie Izzard, he’s a bit cooler than Stephen Fry and I learnt a lot about politics from my dad. On the down side, my dad isn’t it for very long. He doesn’t get much of a say, there are a lot of people in the video, it’s a broad coalition. Too broad.

I really like this video which is a song by someone I follow on Twitter and quite like.

I like that it is a song with a tune and it’s catchy and I can sing along with it. However, it’s a song about a voting system and I don’t think it has a chance of winning because it’s a bit nerdy for mainstream video watching and it doesn’t have a celebrity in it. I don’t think it has a chance of winning really.

Lastly, there is the infamous cat video.

It’s pretty appealing if you like cats and nothing but cats. However, I hate cats. I’d never want to vote for a cat. Ever.

What a to do.  If only I had a chance to vote for a new electoral system that let me rank these candidates in order of preference. If only I could vote yes to the alternative vote in the referendum on 5th May.

It’s a simple choice, Yes for change, or No for more of the same.

More tribal politics. More politicians shouting Boo Yah at each other so loudly that neither you nor they can hear what is actually being said.  More young men and women spending their whole lives in a Westminster cocoon, so wrapped up in their tribe that they are unable to conceive that the the “enemy” might just have a point. So isolated from the real lives of real people that they can’t talk to you and won’t listen.

More Party Hacks being parachuted in safe seats they’ve never visited after a life spent as interns in Westminster and blindly following their whips through the lobbies.

More contempt. Not just MP’s being held in contempt by the public but the public being held in contempt by MP’s.  Ignoring your views and stealing your money.

More influence for a tiny fraction of voters and those with the money to persuade them one way or another. 1.6% of voters decided the last election in a handful of marginal seats. These seats were flooded with money by backers of both the big parties desperate to buy an election.

More of our politicians being in thrall to their big money backers.  More of Ashcroft and Murdoch and Crow calling the shots.

More disenfranchisement. As politicians and politics drifts further away from us more and more of us will find our votes wasted supporting parties and ideas who can’t get a fair chance to be represented and more and more of us will feel that even voting is a waste of our time.

The definiation of insanity is to keep doing the same thing in the same way and to expect a different outcome.  If you want more of the same, vote NO. If you are happy with the way politics is done in our country, vote No. If you one of the few thousand voters who’s vote really matters, Vote No to the Alternative Vote.

The only change on offer on the 5^th of May is the Alternative Vote.

Vote Yes for change.

The Edinburgh Yes to Fairer Votes group met at Portobello Beach on Easter Sunday to raise awareness of the upcoming referendum on 5th May and about the advantages of the Alternative Vote voting system. Whilst creating the 25 foot high beach sand display the group met many members of the public, all keen to find out what we were up to!

We spoke to one chap (and his lovely dog) who had already sent in his vote of ‘Yes’ by post last week and was pleased to see us working hard to get the message out to the undecided public.

A very lively conversation was had with another young man who was not yet convinced the AV system would work for the UK. He hadn’t yet made up his mind how he would vote on 5th May but he sure did go away with a lot of food for thought and, hopefully, a clearer idea of how AV might help the UK become more diplomatic. A fun day out was had by all the volunteers (and their families!).

The sun was shining, the sea was sparkling and we all enjoyed digging and building in the sand. We were even joined by baby Jack who helped out by directing our efforts whilst pottering around eating some of the delicious purple Yes to Fairer Votes cakes brought along by The display took two and a half hours to create including breaks to chat with people strolling the promenade or to enjoy a cuppa and a cake.

Our day out was even covered by the Edinburgh Reporter.

http://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/?s=yes+to+fairer+votes

Maurice writes…

When it was Edinburgh’s turn to have one of the No campaign’s chain of debates, March 26, it was not to our knowledge publicised at all outside the 2 campaigns. Only 16 seats were laid out, so they were far from expecting a rush. It was held incredibly on a landing, with the stairwell straight behind us, in a small theatre. Yet the No speaker, Lord Falconer, spun to the local press as well as that audience, that an attendance of only 12 showed public disinterest.
 
Just as contrived as this, was his muddling of the picture. He wrongly counted the second choice of voters whose first choice is still in the race, when trying to claim an unfairness.
 
The invited Yes speaker Ian Baxter presented well the tactical voting problem, who you think can win versus who you really want. He said, without this problem some MPs who now have over 50% votes would not, so AV would make a wider impact than Falconer had
suggested. Questions from our side covered accountability and majorities against an FPTP winner.
 
More Yes than No sentiment was heard from the audience, so it came out well for us. No straw poll was taken, it just closed with go forth and vote.

…

Hamish who was also at the debate wrote to the Edinburgh Evening News

The city’s answer to AV is not “No” but rather “Don’t care” — which
is precisely why returning a Yes is so important. Politics has reached
the stage where even the second ever referendum in UK history is met
with apathy because people believe voting doesn’t change anything. But
that is exactly why AV matters. If you think politics is a waste of
time, this is your one chance to make a difference.

You can see the Edinburgh Evening News coverage of the debate here and you can see our co-convenor Helen’s response to the debate here

Helen writes…

The fact that just 12 people turned up at a meeting to debate the change to the voting system for UK that was organised by the NO2AV campaign (and somewhat unsurprisingly declared themselves opposed to change) hardly justifies the headline that “the city’s answer is ‘no.’”  Rather, it is indicative of a complete lack of support for the NO2AV campaign in Edinburgh. 
 
Edinburgh citizens have been showing a strong interest in reforming the voting system for UK general elections since this became a real prospect last May. This was first seen in the well-supported demonstration on May 15 2010, calling for an end to the broken system for electing MPs so that our Westminster government can be more relevant to the voters it exists to represent.
    
Over the last few months YES! to Fairer Votes campaigners have been very busy with activities such as street stalls around the city, handing out leaflets to shoppers in Princes St or rugby fans on their way to Murrayfield  and speaking to thousands of voters over the phone. The people we are in touch with are often keen to learn more about the proposed alternative vote, to hear what we are asking them to say yes to, and why. Many are receptive to the reasons we give – we are supporting a YES vote to give all voters more of a say, to end safe seats and the jobs for life they bring for some MPs and to make MPs more accountable to their constituents because they will need to aim to get 50% of the vote to be sure of getting elected – which makes us all the more aware of the need to continue providing information and underlining the importance of voting in the referendum. 
 
May 5 is the date for the people in Edinburgh and throughout the UK to give their answer to a question that deserves their fullest attention. I sincerely hope that on the day that really matters, the people will say yes.

You can see what other members of the Edinburgh Yes to Fairer Votes group had to say about the debate they were at here.

Dear Any Answers Team,
 
Last night Margaret Beckett trotted out the irrelevant truism that some votes count more than others under AV. Of course they do: the only system under which all votes count the same is PR.
 
The important point is that more votes count under AV than under First Past The Post. Under First Past The Post, the only votes that count are those that bring the winner 1 vote past the runner up, typically around one third of the votes cast. AV ensures that at least 50% of votes are reflected in the selection of the MP.
 
No To AV supporters are terrified that the additional approximately one sixth of votes that will count under AV will remove the unfair advantage currently held by their party. This motivates all their arguments, most of which are spurious.
 
Having mentioned PR, I have no patience with those who will vote No because AV is not PR. They are cutting off their nose to spite their face. Having chosen AV and its advantages being more widely appreciated, the electorate is likely to ask “Why don’t we reflect the FIRST preference of EVERY voter in the composition of the parliament?”.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
John Symons
 
Aberdeen
 
(phone numbers supplied but deleted on forwarding to Edinburgh YTFV)

It was a gentle day of campaigning. The sun shone, gently, the rain fell, gently, the wind blew, gently.

 We arrived and set up our stall.  I had the exciting opportunity to buy a new multi-tool from Tesco’s in order to secure our table legs. I also got to meet a long time supporter and first time activist who I’ve corresponding with through social media. It’s always a pleasure to put a face to a name, especially when they turn out to be a natural at leafleting. The stall looked very purple.  Lots of purple cloth, Yes banners, Yes speech bubbles, Yes posters. Yes balloons. Lots of balloons.

 More and more activists drifted in and then we were ready to go. Armed with a host of new leaflets, exhorting our MP’s to work harder and explaining why we were voting Yes we set about engaging with the voters of Leith.

 There was definitely a gentler pace to the street stall. Compared to being on Princes Street we had many fewer people walk past, but a greater proportion of them took leaflets and many more people stopped to ask us what we doing and to engage us in conversation.

 What’s changed since the last time we did a street stall?  Well, voters seem much more aware of the referendum. People said they had heard of the Alternative Vote referendum in a way they hadn’t heard about it before Christmas. We had lots of people nodding their heads when we told them what were campaign for. Lots of people said they were going to vote Yes.  We had people who have received phone calls from our phone bank. People who had seen us on Princes Street or at Murrayfield.  People who had seen campaign video on YouTube. One or two told us to hold on to our leaflets as they were already voting Yes.

 We’ve changed out tactics slightly too.  Early one we would group ourselves round the stall. This time round we split up and had small groups flyering on junctions nearby. Time and again we’d have someone walk past the stall who had already heard of the Yes campaign and was ready to vote Yes for a change in British politics.

Also, we’ve started handing out Yes to Fairer Votes balloons.  Kids, tell your parents, what you want for your birthday is Fairer Votes for All.

 One of the best things about doing a street stall is talking to people about British politics. People really want change and they genuinely care and really understand how a change in the voting system will mean a change in the way politicians and voters and Political Parties behave towards each other.  Sometimes I am in awe at the abilty of the Edinburgh team to talk to people, honestly and openly about the change we want to see happen, but then the Alternative Vote is not complicated.

We had some people say they never voted. I can never understand why people would never vote.  We had one person say she was going to vote No because she really wanted STV.  “It’s not on the ballot,” we said.  “But I want STV,” she replied.  “It’s still not on the ballot. We’d like a million pounds, that’s not on the ballot either.”

My favourite interaction of the day was one lady who came over to tell us that all politicians were the same, in it for themselves.  We agreed. We’re not politicians. We’re campaigning to make sure politicians work you, that they remember who their boss is. I think this nonplussed her and I hope she’ll think about how the Alternative Vote is a small change that will make a big difference to the way politicians view their constituents.

All in all a grand day out for the campaign and I’m pleased and proud to have the opportunity to talk to all the citizens of my home town about how they would like to elect their representatives.

We like campaigning. It’s good for people to ask the voters what they want.

Next week we’ll be at the other end of Leith Walk and the week after in Bruntsfield. Over the next two months we’ll be working hard all over Edinburgh to spread the word about the benefits of the Alternative Voting System.