By Rab Bruce’s Spider

There is a move by some in the media, and especially BBC Scotland, to mislead people over the voting system for the Holyrood elections. Each voter will have two votes and there is a tendency by some reporters to refer to a "Second Vote", giving the impression, although they obviously never actually say so, that this vote is for your second preference after you have cast your main vote.

This is absolutely wrong. Each voter will be able to vote for a Constituency MSP, in exactly the same way as they would vote for a Westminster MP. The other vote is for a Regional List, in which each voter votes for the Party of his or her choice, with MSPs being elected from a list nominated by each Party. The actual method of calculation of how many Regional MSPs are elected from each Party is designed to ensure a more proportional Parliament and prevent any one party gaining an absolute majority. You can see a full description of how it works at:

http://wingsoverscotland.com/ams-for-lazy-people/

There is much debate on social media about tactical voting and whether pro-Indie supporters would be wasting their Regional vote by voting for the SNP since that Party is expected to do extremely well in the Constituency votes. The important thing to remember, though, is that there is absolutely nothing to stop you voting for the same Party with both votes and, indeed, it seems a bizarre suggestion to vote for some alternative Party with your Regional List vote unless you genuinely do want to give a smaller Party like the greens some representation.

Be very careful about how you listen to news reports. Many reporters will try to give you the impression that you cannot vote for the same Party with both votes. This is completely wrong. The Scottish Parliament is made up of Constituency and Regional List MSPs and you are entitled to vote for the representatives you want from both categories. Do not listen to anyone who tries to tell you anything different and please do spread the word to anyone who is confused about the system.

On the same theme, some people have reservations about the Regional List system since it means that some MSPs are elected without their personal views being scrutinised by the electorate. In other words, if you vote for the SNP in a Regional List vote, you have no idea how many MSPs that Party will gain from the List, nor will you have much opportunity to speak to them beforehand in order to find out whether you believe they would be a good representative for your Region.

This is a perfectly valid argument but any system of proportional representation is going to present this sort of issue and, in practice, it probably doesn’t make much difference to the bulk of the electorate. The Tories, to give them credit, have realised this in their latest election pamphlet which urges voters to use their Regional List vote to elect Ruth Davidson. This is, on the face of it, an odd statement since Ruth Davidson, unwilling to put herself up for election as a Constituency MSP because she knows she’d probably lose, is standing on the Regional List for Edinburgh & The Lothians, so people outside of that region cannot vote for her. But the Tories have understood the essential thing. Most voters vote for a Party leader, not for an individual representative. They vote for a Party and expect the local representative to adhere to the policies set out by the Party leader. This is not true for every voter, of course, because some people do vote for an individual representative rather than the Party that person stands for but, by and large, voters choose a Party to elect. The fact that there is a Constituency vote in the Holyrood elections allows voters the option of choosing a personal representative as well as voting for a Party on the regional List. To borrow a much hated phrase amongst Yessers, it’s the best of both worlds. Well, maybe not the best but it’s a decent enough compromise.

But, once again, don’t forget that you can vote for the same Party twice. You have two votes and both of them count; it is not a First and Second preference, so don’t be fooled by the subtle misrepresentation in the media.