Glitches don't matter, quality of deputies does
THERE were always going to be glitches in the switch to island-wide voting.
Going from a district-based system which has been in operation (with a few adjustments) for multiple elections to a centralised vote was a major test of the States Assembly & Constitution Committee and its staff.
Given the unique mix of a single electorate, consensus politics and no established party system the island could not learn from other jurisdictions and had to make it up as it went along.
That such a momentous change should coincide with the Covid-19 pandemic and a shifting timeframe only served to heighten the challenge.
The big test is still to come with the official count of hundreds of thousands of votes on Thursday but, if all goes well, the island can consider the first island-wide vote a logistical success.
Most of the issues have been in communication, initially around how parties could operate a joint budget and subsequently around the voting process.
Election 2025, with expenditure rules better understood, parties established and Covid-19 hopefully in terminal retreat, should be a smoother experience all around.
Some issues will, however, not go away.
The list of candidates will always be too long. If it were to shrink too dramatically the island’s democracy would be in trouble.
And the traditional hustings will never return.
The latter at least is one area that could be improved by more centralised organisation by Sacc to avoid diary clashes between two events and improve attendance.
Neither of those issues is insurmountable. It is just a different form of election, based more online and less in the streets and halls.
The true test of island-wide voting, and what will determine its long-term future, should be the quality of the deputies chosen.
For there is a danger that a single poll favours louder, more populist, candidates who are good at getting noticed, less so at working in a team towards a viable solution.
If island-wide means an end to thoughtful candidates, who are good at policy detail but less so at self-promotion, the island may need a rapid re-think.