States commissions how-to video for referendum vote
A VIDEO explaining how to vote in the island-wide voting referendum has been released by the States Assembly & Constitution Committee.
It has been produced to familiarise people with the preferential and transferable voting system that will be used on Wednesday 10 October.
‘Rather than voters only being able to vote for one option, they will be able to rank the options on the ballot paper in their order of preference in order to ensure that the winning option has broad support,’ said Sacc president Peter Roffey.
‘Voters can vote for as many or as few of the options as they like – they don’t have to use all of their five votes.’
Sacc vice-president Lindsay de Sausmarez, the committee lead on producing the video, encouraged people to watch the video ahead of the referendum.
‘Given this is a different way of voting from what people will be used to, the committee felt it was important to make a video explaining how to vote,’ she said.
‘The video was produced locally and voiced by local children and explains in simple terms how people can vote.’
The video uses the example of a class of schoolchildren deciding what colour to paint their classroom door.
The children have five colours to choose from – grey, green, red, blue and yellow.
The children rank the colour they want the door painted in the order of their favourite colours. The video also provides a brief overview of how the votes will be counted and some ‘top tips’ for the viewer on voting in the referendum.
From early September, the video will also be shown in various States buildings and at the Guille-Alles Library.
Staff supporting the referendum will also be out and about in the lead-up to the vote, initially showing the video at the Youth Commission stands at the West and North shows, and encouraging islanders who are not already on the electoral roll to register to vote.
Electoral roll staff will also be in Market Square each Friday during August.
From early September, those wishing to register to vote will be able to do so at the Guille-Alles Library and online at www.gov.gg/elections.
Impartial guidance explaining each of the five options on the ballot paper will be delivered to every household later this month.
Option A is for deputies all elected in one go on an island-wide basis, Option B is to retain the status quo and Option C is for a combination of island-wide and district voting. These all have campaign groups.
Nobody has come forward to represent Options D or E, which are for four electoral districts and staggered elections on an island-wide basis respectively.
