Time to randomise all local government ballots

The Facts analysed:

• Based on probability, candidates in the first three positions should have won 30% of the elections.
• However, they won 57% – almost twice as many.
• In other words, those 105 candidates in the top three positions won 20 out of 35 elections (a 1 in 5 chance) vs the other 323 candidates who only won 15 of the elections (a 1 in 22 chance).

This is why candidate order should be random, not alphabetical. The surname advantage is quite huge in elections where candidates are not well known.