How could Guernsey's Island Wide Voting referendum work?

Guernsey States are debating how the Island Wide Voting referendum will work.

The committee in charge of producing the referendum it wants to give islanders five different versions of island wide voting to pick from.

But, other deputies are calling for a simple yes or no answer, and for the government to work out how the system should work if it is supported.

The five options voters could be asked to chose from are below, each system would see a voter be able to vote for however many politicians are being elected from their district.

For example, if there were nine politicians being selected in your district, you would have nine votes to chose nine different people.

Option A is full island wide voting, and would see just one district, and each voter given 38 votes to select every single States member they want.

Option C is slightly different to the rest, and would see 10 deputies elected island wide, and the remaining 28 elected through the existing seven districts.

Other changes include the possibility of elections being held every two years, to replace half of the current deputies.

Option A

  • 1 island-wide electoral district

  • Each voter would have 38 votes at each election

  • Each Deputy would serve for 4 years

  • An election would be held every 4 years for all Deputies at once

Option B

  • 7 electoral districts

  • Each voter would have 5 or 6 votes at each election

  • Each Deputy would serve for 4 years

  • An election would be held every 4 years for all Deputies at once

Option C

  • 1 electoral districts plus the 7 existing electoral districts

  • Each voter would have 10 votes at each election for the 1 island-wide electoral district and 3, 4 or 5 votes in their own electoral district

  • Each Deputy would serve for 4 years

  • Elections would be held every 4 years for all Deputies but the election for the 10 island-wide Deputies would take place first and then the election for the 28 district Deputies would take place on a different day

Option D

  • 4 electoral districts

  • Each voter would have between 9 and 11 votes at each election

  • Each Deputy would serve for 4 years

  • An election would be held every 4 years for all Deputies at once

Option E

  • 1 island-wide electoral district

  • Each voter would have 12 or 13 votes at each election

  • Each Deputy would serve for 6 years

  • An election would be held every 2 years for a third of Deputies each time