Avoid voter fatigue, take heed of Brenda from Bristol

SOMETIMES we all feel like Brenda.

Brenda from Bristol has become something of a sensation with her reaction to Theresa May's decision to call a snap election, the Prime Minister's mind made up after a nice walk in Wales over Easter.

Brenda's dismay was clear – 'you're joking, not another one?'

Where once we had election fever, now we are in the realms of pure fatigue, perhaps exhaustion.

We all wish we could take a nice quiet walk in Wales and get away from it.

The UK is in a constant cycle of voting at the moment, whether it is a general election less than two years after the last, the EU referendum, or local elections and by-elections, the ballot box barely gets a chance to gather a mote of dust before it is back out again. Chuck in wall-to-wall coverage of the US election and apathy sets in.

Guernsey is in line to go to the polls itself next year for its first referendum, with island-wide voting on the line.

Will the novelty value get the voters out two years after they were last called on?

Island-wide voting is far from a priority for many. They are much more concerned that government gets on with cutting waste, growing the economy and driving through secondary education reforms while also making sure the rubbish is collected with a bill that doesn't break the bank.

When States members discuss the referendum in June they should keep Brenda firmly in mind.

I might make up 40 rubber bracelets with WWBD inscribed on them.

What Would Brenda Do, for instance, if a system is in place which means going to the polls every two years to vote for a proportion of the States?

'Oh no, not again,' she would say.

Those who favour the prospect of voting for say half or a third of the Assembly after two years like the idea that it would make island-wide voting manageable because of the number of candidates involved.

Some also like the idea of a consistent churn in the States, an injection of fresh thinking.

But the reality is a world of voter fatigue and a government that would keep grinding to a spectacular halt, if, indeed, it ever got any momentum in the first place.

Take this States.

Since April 2016 it has evidently managed to go nowhere very fast.

A year on and it has not even decided what its priorities for this term are, what projects it believes are necessary to make the island a better place to live.

We all give a certain leeway for getting up to speed, but someone needs to at least start pressing down on the accelerator.

What has been delivered was almost entirely already in motion from the last Assembly, or, in terms of population and the waste strategy, from administrations before that.

It took eight years to get the new population management regime in place. How would that have progressed if four times during that there had been a turnover with new members coming in having to be brought up to speed on the process, potentially throwing in the odd curve ball here and there along the way?

The States would never be able to agree on a 'manifesto' because of the constant change and therefore there would never be direction and just as importantly accountability.

Each time there is an election, a good year is lost amid electioneering, members posturing and taking positions to protect their seats, deferring unpopular issues and then educating fresh faces, some of whom may never have set foot in the States chamber, let alone read a Billet.

How do leaders lead in a world of constant change?

How does Guernsey project the stability that is such a hallmark of its success?

The panacea that is, in some eyes, making island-wide voting work is not worth creating that amount of instability and uncertainty in government.

So can island-wide voting work? Of course, but not without either a serious cull in the number of States members or party politics, something that there is simply no real appetite for in Guernsey.

We know that many hours will be spent, again, debating the issue thanks to the referendum, with the same pros and cons ruminated over.

If Brenda is fed up with general elections, imagine what she would be thinking of the Guernsey States' ability to run round in circles on the same issues.

With luck there will be a resolution, but we will not get there easily unless the States Assembly and Constitution Committee's five-option referendum proposals are simplified and ultimately dangerous solutions, such as two-year elections, are dropped.