Sir, – Tom Finn raises interesting questions (Letters, May 31st). There are any number of valid reasons, other than gender or personality, why transfers may not follow ideological or policy lines.
For example, one may give a first or lower preference vote to a candidate with whose views they might not fully agree because they feel that the candidate is the proponent of an alternative position that deserves to be heard. Also, preferences can be awarded on a “least worst” basis in order to exclude a particular candidate who the voter does not want under any circumstances.
In addition, it should be remembered that a vote transferred to a candidate on the elimination or election of the voter’s first preference can be quite a low preference.
The candidates who got the intervening preferences may have been already elected or eliminated. It’s all part of the beauty of our electoral system. – Yours, etc,
JIM CUNNINGHAM,
Swords, Co Dublin.