As votes were cast in Guernsey’s second fully island wide vote, Express reporters found there was a common theme developing at polling stations.
Many of the electorate that we spoke to either did not like island wide voting, had found it difficult to filter through all of the 82 candidates, or had not used each of their 38 votes.
At St Sampson’s Church rooms at around 09:30 yesterday there was a steady stream of voters turning up.
Each spoken to by Express said they weren’t keen on island wide voting.
One lady said she knew of other people that had refused to vote under the current system.
Others had been determined to have their say but didn’t like the IWV system with so many candidates to choose between.
Volunteers said they had seem familiar faces who had used the Church rooms to vote at previous district elections – with some people saying they liked to follow their own traditions and vote near home.
At Beau Sejour – one of the super polling stations developed for the island wide system – Derrick Ogier said he hadn’t used all of his votes, but he was still happy with the new system.
“I couldn’t find 38, so I voted for less. In terms of island wide voting, I agree with it. I have found it a bit confusing, but I know when it was parish voting, I used to think I wish I could vote for that person who was in another parish. So, I have found it a bit confusing, but I’m happy with it. You got more choice.”
Derek Smith was also in favour of island wide voting and he was hoping the system would deliver some much needed change in the assembly.
“I think the island wide voting is a good thing,” he said. “Firstly, because it gives you a broader choice of candidates, and whether you live in St Martin’s or St Andrew’s, it doesn’t matter that much for such a small place. It seems silly having all those zonal options rather than just one large vote like this. It’s much preferable, and also it gives you a chance to vote for your priority, which for me was women. The men have failed miserably over the decades, and I’d like to see the women take charge, and will almost certainly do a better job.”
Voting in St Martin’s Mrs Pamela Quertier commented that she didn’t use of her 38 votes and she isn’t so keen on the current system of electing the States.
“I don’t like it because there’s too many to choose from, and you can’t get a good representative for your own parish, which is what a lot of us want.”
Her view was echoed in St Andrew’s where one husband and wife couple told Express they had each chosen 23 candidates to vote for.
“We don’t like it. In districts you could know who you’re voting for. I mean, how are you supposed to know 82 candidates?”
Dean of St Andrew’s Douzaine, Martin Thwaite was the Polling Station Officer yesterday.
He thinks everything moved quicker on election days when the district or parish voting systems were in place.
“We found it’s taking much longer to fill in their ballot papers. And even though we’re not rushed off our feet, people have been waiting to get into a vacant booth.”
In the Castel, where voters were casting their ballots at the Douzaine room, there was an overwhelming opinion that island wide voting was not the way forward.
Several mentioned they would prefer a return to district voting, or along parish lines.
