Scottish Parliament and the AV Referendum

Written evidence from Mr Ron Gould, CM (AV 03)

First of all I should mention that I have been contacted by several Scottish journalists over the past few weeks concerning the proposal to hold the AV referendum on the same date as the Scottish Parliamentary election in May 2011.

My basic view is that it would be preferable to separate these two voting activities in order to give the voters the opportunity to focus specifically on each of them.

At the same time I do not believe that the same factors which led to voter confusion and the large number of rejected ballots at the last Scottish Parliamentary and Municipal elections would arise if both the Parliamentary Election and the Referendum were held on the same date. The marking of yes or no on a referendum ballot is much easier to understand and carry out than the requirements of marking an STV ballot.

It could be argued however that a high profile referendum campaign might seriously detract from the Parliamentary election campaigning, resulting in lower visibility and interest in the Parliamentary Election candidates.

If costs are considered, there is no doubt that it would be much less expensive to combine the two on the same day in the same locations and using the same resources. Also it might be argued that combining the two would result in a higher turnout than if they were held separately.

So, in conclusion, although my first choice would be to hold these two voting activities on separate dates, so as to offer the voter a clear focus on his or her choices in each case. However I do not believe that holding both on the same day would create the same degree of confusion and resultant rejected ballots especially if sufficient advance public information and guidance was provided to the voters. I would strongly suggest, that in this event a number of pilot projects and focus groups be carried out to identify and unforeseen problems which might arise.

21 September 2010