Developing STV Rules for manual counting to give effect to the Weighted Inclusive Gregory Method of transferring surpluses, with candidates’ votes recorded as integer values

When the Local Governance (Scotland) Bill [2] was introduced in the Scottish Parliament it included most (but not all) of the STV counting rules used for District Council elections in Northern Ireland [3]. Among those included were the provisions for the transfer of surplus votes by the Gregory Method, applied only to the ‘last parcel’ of ballot papers for a consequential surplus [4]. During the Stage 1 consideration of the Bill by the Local Government and Transport Committee of the Scottish Parliament, several MSPs questioned the use of the Gregory Method and suggested that the ‘last parcel’ provision treated some voters unfairly (eg see [5] at col 380). The Committee also discussed the possibilities of using electronic counting which was attractive because the elections for the Scottish Parliament (by a regional version of the Additional Member System) would be held on the same day. In their Report [6] on the Stage 1 consideration of the Bill, the Committee said, in relation to technical issues surrounding the counting of votes: