The claim

“I have a second preference as well as you, as well as Justin here, or anybody else – and you count them again as well.”
John Humphrys, presenter,  BBC Radio 4 Today programme, May 3, 2011

The background

With his usual ferocity, John Humphrys accused the PM this morning of leading a No to AV campaign that was peddling “some pretty unsavoury stuff, telling – frankly – lies”.

“It’s rubbish isn’t it,” Mr Humphrys challenged, “that babies will die, soldiers will be hurt” if AV is brought in. He was referring to some early campaign posters from the No camp.

David Cameron refused to condemn the campaign, arguing that it was “cross-party” and that he was leading the Conservative’s campaign which follows “very straightforward”, fair arguments.

The analysis

AV isn’t fair, Mr Cameron said, whereas first-past-the-post (FPTP) offers “one person one vote”.

This is a well-worn No to AV claim; that an AV system counts some people’s votes more than others. FactCheck has looked into it, and agrees with Mr Humphrys who said: “That simply isn’t true that you count the votes more than once (with AV)”.

But the Today presenter should have stopped there. For within moments, the PM was laughing in surprise that the tough talking Mr Humphrys had slipped up in his explanation of AV.

Mr Humphrys thought that everyone’s second-preference vote is counted under AV.

But this isn’t true – your second preference vote is only counted if your first preference candidate has been knocked out of the race.

This is because – contrary to popular claims – AV upholds the “one person one vote” principle. In an AV election, everyone’s first choice is counted, and to win that initial voting round a candidate has to achieve more than 50 per cent of all the votes.

If no one gets 50 per cent, then the least popular candidate is eliminated from the race. It then goes to a second round and if your first choice is still in, then your vote still counts for that candidate. But if you picked the loser as your first preference vote, that vote counts for zero and your second preference takes its place.

So only the voters who backed the losing candidate have their second preference counted. Otherwise, your first choice will stand. Every voter is treated equally with each vote only counting once in deciding who is elected in each constituency.

The verdict

The PM couldn’t believe Mr Humphrys had got it wrong, laughing that: “That’s quite worrying if the lead broadcaster on the BBC doesn’t understand the system. Go back to school.”

Tut tut Mr Humphrys, as the PM said – it was a somewhat “staggering” mistake.  But when someone as au fait with current affairs as Mr Humphrys slips up, it really only serves to show just how murky the debate has been. (Read more from FactCheck: AV round-up – the truth behind the claims)

As it stands, the  facts have been drowned out by the sound and fury of the campaign – leaving those that do vote on Thursday set to vote politically rather than objectively.

With Labour so divided, voters will have to take a hunch – and vote Conservative with a capital C, conservative with a small c, or Liberal.

By Emma Thelwell