Electoral Reform Society's video: Example STV election

Election time! Three seats are up for grabs and five people are standing. John, Aliyah, Sally, Kwame, Paul and Helen. When the votes are counted John is way out front, with Aliyah second and Sally third. You could take those three as the winners. But that’s not fair on people who voted for John. The nearly 57,000 people who voted for John were only as powerful as the 13,000 who voted for Sally. Shouldn’t all votes have the same power? Had John's supporters known in advance that he'd get twice as many votes as he needed, they might have put their vote to better use. What about people who voted for Kwame, Paul and Helen? They have no representation at all. If we want every vote to be equal, we need a set an equal finishing line for candidates to reach to get elected. Just as, if there was only one seat up for grabs, you’d want the winner to get more than half the vote: If there are two seats they should just over a third. And with three, just over a quarter. And we need a way for voters to move their vote if their favourite candidate has more votes than they need or stands no chance of winning. Voters write on the ballot where they’d want their vote to go. Find out more at www.electoral-reform.org.uk/single-transferable-vote