Voting evolution not revolution

By Brian Taylor BBC Scotland political editor

There are new choices ahead for Scottish voters

They had a tough task, did the Arbuthnott Commission.

Sort out Scotland's multiple voting systems.

Make it all clear and simple. Encourage people back to the polling stations.

Oh, and by the way, placate the endlessly warring tribes that comprise Scottish politics.

One member of the commission compared the challenge to a Rubik's Cube.

You remember that intensely infuriating game where you had to get all the sides of a little box into line, colours matching.

Every time you thought you had one side sorted, another descended into chaos. Ditto with Arbuthnott.

Do you want to make a system more proportional, to match seats gained to voting share? Fine. Everybody happy?

There is NO perfect election system

Well, no, actually. The new constituencies are too large and the public are more baffled than ever.

Do you insist that Holyrood boundaries should match those at Westminster - or at least as closely as possible. Sounds like sense? Everybody happy? Well, no, again.

You could lose proportionality. And in any case why should Holyrood follow Westminster? Why not base seats on local wards?

There is NO perfect election system.

Indeed, as Churchill noted wryly, democratic elections are a dreadful way of choosing a government.

Council changes

The snag is that all the alternatives are worse. Far worse.

So the Arbuthnott Commission was, from first principles, about compromise: balancing one demand against another. So what did they suggest?

Let's begin at the beginning. Here's the system right now.

At Westminster, you choose your MP by marking a single cross against one name. The candidate with most votes wins.

At Holyrood, you choose a constituency MSP that way - although the seat boundaries are different.

Then, secondly, you pick a party. That top-up vote produces regional list MSPs, in seven regions across Scotland based on the old - and now redundant - European constituencies.

For the European Parliament, you only pick a party. The whole of Scotland is now covered by a single list.

From next year, council wards will change. They'll be bigger with several councillors in each.

You'll pick names 1, 2, 3 in order of preference. That's the Single Transferable Vote, or STV.

Arbuthnott suggests:

• Keeping the Holyrood system - but rebranding it "mixed member" to end the artificial division in status between constituency and list MSPs

• Moving to "open" regional lists at Holyrood - where you could rank candidates instead of simply taking the order presented by parties

• Shaking up Holyrood boundaries and regions to match council wards and natural communities. That would mean more regions - perhaps 10 - with different numbers of list MSPs in each

• Shifting European elections to STV

• Holding Holyrood and council elections on different days - perhaps by deferring the local elections for a year (2008 instead of 2007)

They also say that there should be no bar on candidates seeking to enter Holyrood via either the constituency or regional route.

They argue that there's no particular reason why boundaries for Holyrood and Westminster should be the same: it might be neat but it wouldn't particularly address voter concerns.

They want an information scheme - starting with civics lessons in schools - to explain Scotland's voting system to the public.

People should get an information pack delivered to their homes before elections - and after - with information about the outcome, including advice on how to contact their elected representatives.

Seeking solutions

Eventually, there should be electronic voting from home, perhaps via computer or telephone, provided a secure system of voter identification could be confirmed.

For the elections next year, there should be electronic counting of the vote.

That would be followed by electronic voting at polling stations, using drop down computer menus. Then, longer-term, home voting.

Further, there should be a clear statement of what constituency and regional MSPs are expected to do to end the sporadic bickering - and perhaps placate those locally elected constituency politicians who have felt, with some justification, that regional MSPs intrude on their patch.

But, mostly, it's about helping the existing structures to bed down with reforms to make them more workable and, arguably, more voter friendly.

If the revised Holyrood system doesn't work, says the commission, then revisit the Single Transferable Vote option for the Scottish Parliament.

We've had devolution. This is evolution - not revolution.

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