Your guide to next week's voting reform referendum

In eight days' time, people in Notts will be asked whether the voting system should be changed. Local Government Correspondent Delia Monk examines the pros and cons to help you decide.

FOR centuries, British voters have queued up at polling stations to put an X against the candidate they want to represent them at Parliament.

But that could all change if enough people want to transform the voting system in the referendum which will be held alongside the May 5 local elections.

The public will be asked whether they want to change from the current first-past- the-post system to the alternative vote.

Under the present system, whoever has the most votes in each constituency wins.

Critics say this is disproportionate, with hundreds of votes "wasted".

For example, if the Conservatives were to miss out in, say, Nottingham South, Broxtowe and Gedling by just 20 votes in each constituency, all those Tory votes would be "lost", as a Labour MP would be elected in all three.

This means the result is not proportional: in the 2005 general election, the Tories secured 32 per cent of all votes, Labour 35 per cent and the Liberal Democrats 21 per cent.

But Labour won 55 per cent of the seats, while the Tories won 30 per cent and the Lib Dems only ten per cent

The Lib Dems do especially poorly under the current system because, while they may have a good deal of support, there are fewer constituencies they can win, so all those votes count for nothing.

At the other end of the scale is the proportional representation system.

This gives parties a proportionate number of seats to the number of votes gained. But, in other countries where this operates, it involves larger constituencies, with people voting for a number of MPs per region.

Critics of this system say voters feel less in touch with their MP, who can also feel less accountable to the public.

Somewhere in between these two systems is the alternative vote, which could be used in the UK following the referendum.

Instead of placing an X next to the favoured candidate, people would rank candidates in order of preference.

But they would still vote for only one MP and constituency boundaries would not change.

The winning candidate must secure 50 per cent of the vote.

If this does not happen in the first round of counting, the candidate with the least number of votes is struck off.

Then these ballot papers are recalculated and the votes are given to the second preference.

This process continues until one candidate is elected with more than 50 per cent of the vote.

AV is not regarded as a proportional system, as parties could still form a government with less than 50 per cent of first-choice votes.

Academics have also argued it will not create more coalition governments.

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503354/s/147327b5/l/0L0Sthisisnottingham0O0Cnews0CGuide0EAV0Evoting0Ereform0Ereferendum0Carticle0E3490A50A70Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

Petrol prices The US embassy cables Regulators Entertainment Australia Lee Carsley