Voting in the 2013 Electoral Reform Society’s Council Elections

The ballot for the elections to the governing Council of the Electoral Reform Society is currently underway and I have been deciding who to vote for.

These elections take place every two years, using STV obviously, to elect a council of 15 members with responsibility for the governance and administration of the Society. The ballot closes on the 30 August.

Last time these elections took place, in 2011, there was an unusual level of controversy and interest in them. There was an amount of active campaigning from some candidates and the elections generated a number of blog posts of which my contribution was this: Voting in the Election of the Electoral Reform Society Council

Given that the angst generated by the fall out from the AV referendum has dissipated, the leadership by the current council has, as far as I can tell, been pretty good, and that the electoral reform movement as a whole has more or less agreed a strategy of prioritising campaigning for a move to STV for local government elections (in England and Wales) this year's ERS Council elections have generated far less debate. I see this as a good thing. While there are times when it is necessary to step back and look at where you are going, achieving meaningful constitutional change is self evidently a difficult process and if it is to have any chance of even modest success it requires a unity of purpose in working towards clear objectives. It seems that currently we have this and for that I am glad.

In the light of that, in choosing how to prioritise this years candidates I have chosen to opt for continuity. Of the 23 candidates standing 8 are current members of the Council and I have decided to support them in their re-election. For the record my top 5 preferences were:

1. Keith Sharp
2. Chris Carrigan
3. Andy May
4. Amy Dodd
5. Clare Coatman

This content was originally posted on my old Strange Thoughts blog.