The Independent recently checked claims that Anne Widdecombe would have won Strictly Come Dancing if it operated under our current First Past The Post voting system. They checked it out and found that she would have won.
Under AV and in Strictly, there are several rounds of voting, with the lowest-placed candidate knocked out in each round, until only two are left. Winning the first round is not what counts. But as the No to AV campaign pointed out, under AV, the public casts its vote only once, voting for as many candidates as they choose, placing them in order of preference.
In Strictly, a viewer could vote for several of the couples but only on the basis of one call, one vote. They cannot rank them in order of preference. Also, in Strictly the public's judgement is not final; it is an electoral college, in which viewers have half the votes and the judges the other half But the assertion that under our current system she'd have won is roughly right. If there had been just one ballot, and the person with the highest number of votes had been declared winner, Ann Widdecombe would have stolen the crown.
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