We met with local campaigners in South Brent on 15th December for the first stop in our constituency ‘roadshow’. We spread the word ahead of time by taking our 'democracy-meter' to the South Brent market, and asking people's thoughts on these questions.
It was a great chance to stress-test our plans, and we had some great suggestions including:
When we get to the hustings (the debates with the 3 candidates), let’s use the electoral roll to mark off those who have voted - as a precaution against duplicate voting or votes from outside the constituency. The three opposition parties have access to the full electoral register, and can take responsibility for doing this together.
How about allowing voting from the age of 16? There are some good reasons to make this change at national level, and we will consider promoting the cause by allowing voting from 16 in the Primary.
Will we use proportional representation principles? We are passionately in favour of replacing our unfair voting system with #PR. So yes, we will commit to using PR. We will consult with our friends at Make Votes Matter on the most appropriate ‘flavour’ of PR to use.
We’ll be coming to Kingsbridge next, and plan to set up our Democracy Meter outside the Farmers' Market on Sat 21st Jan (weather permitting). A great chance to spread the word and listen to ideas.
