The problem with turnout thresholds in referendums
Scotland’s The Journal has (again!) quoted me in a piece, this time about the problems with turnout thresholds in referendums – such as the 40% threshold some peers wanted to introduce for the AV referendum.
You can read the article here.
As I’m sure you know, you can solve the “perverse incentives” problem by setting a turnout threshold on the “yes” vote, instead of on the total vote (so require the “yes” vote to be at least 20% of the electorate, and to be more than the “no” vote).
You can only solve the “cherry-picking” problem by having a standard process for referendums instead of having them individually legislated for. Hmmmm.