D'Hount for Dummies AKA How much is your vote worth


The D'Hount voting system isn't actually that hard to understand.

It consists of two parts.

1. Constituency vote - a simple first past the post system for the named candidate, just like Westminster elections.

2. AMS - the additional member system, sometimes called the party vote or the list vote because each party puts forward a list of candidates that are allocated according to a formula to represent a more proportional makeup in the Scottish Parliament.

Alba as you may know is the only party standing only for AMS (list) seats.

In each region, the AMS system allocates 7 seats over 7 rounds by dividing the list votes for each party by the number of constituency seats + list seats gained in each round + 1.

The plus one is needed because if you divided the list vote for a party that didn't win any constituency seats by zero, the result would be zero votes.

So in each of the seven rounds, the party with the highest total after the divisor has been applied wins that rounds seat.

Why does that confuse people?

Well with first past the post, you know who'll you'll get as an MSP if you vote in a certain way.

With AMS it's no longer obvious, it's all down to a formula and where each party put each candidate on the list.

So it is inherently less instinctive to voters.

How do we then explain it to people?

My feeling is the best way to explain it to people is in terms of how valuable your vote is to each party in your particular region because it will be different in each region.

So let us do that for 2016 results.

The way we calculate this is simple.

For each party, we divide each vote by the number of constituency seats + 1.

So if a party wins zero constituency seats each vote cast is worth 1 vote (1/1)

At the other end of the scale, if a party wins 9 constituency seats each vote cast is worth 0.1 (1/10) meaning they need 10 times more votes than their rival party to gain a list seat.

Bear in mind that at the time of writing, the polls are showing that the SNP are expected to increase their vote in the constituency ballot in 2021 and therefore the value of their votes in some regions may be lower in 2021 and the value of some unionist party would therefore increase.

Also, note that as Alba is the only party here standing only for list seats they are the only party whose votes are guaranteed to be worth 1 whole vote.

So for each region, each party list vote is worth the following.

Central Scotland

SNP  0.1 of a vote

Alba  1 whole vote 

Lab  1 whole vote 

Con 1 whole vote

Lib Dem 1 whole vote

Green 1 whole vote           


Glasgow

SNP  0.1 of a vote

Alba  1 whole vote 

Lab  1 whole vote 

Con 1 whole vote

Lib Dem 1 whole vote

Green 1 whole vote      


Highlands and Islands

SNP  0.11 of a vote

Alba  1 whole vote 

Lab  1 whole vote 

Con 1 whole vote

Lib Dem 0.33 of a vote

Green 1 whole vote      


Lothian

SNP  0.16 of a vote

Alba  1 whole vote 

Lab  0.5 of a vote 

Con 0.5 of a vote

Lib Dem 0.5 of a vote

Green 1 whole vote      


Mid Scotland and Fife

SNP  0.125 of a vote

Alba  1 whole vote 

Lab  1 whole vote 

Con 1 whole vote

Lib Dem 0.5 of a vote

Green 1 whole vote


North East Scotland

SNP  0.1 of a vote

Alba  1 whole vote 

Lab  1 whole vote 

Con 0.5 of a vote

Lib Dem 1 whole vote

Green 1 whole vote


South Scotland

SNP  0.25 of a vote

Alba  1 whole vote 

Lab  0.5 of a vote 

Con 0.25 of a vote

Lib Dem 1 whole vote

Green 1 whole vote


West Scotland

SNP  0.125 of a vote

Alba  1 whole vote 

Lab  0.5 of a vote 

Con 0.5 of a vote

Lib Dem 1 whole vote

Green 1 whole vote


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