THE guidance we are offered on the referendum on voting reform, including the leaflet issued by the Electoral Commission, ignores one crucial fact, namely that in elections we are invited to vote for candidates, not political parties.

Not many voters can honestly claim to read the manifestos of all the parties putting up a candidate in their constituency.

As voters we are much more likely to scan through the leaflets issued by the candidates. It is natural to want to know what the candidate looks like; what his or her experience is; what issues they feel strongly about; how they express themselves and which policies and standpoints of the party they represent they wish to be publicly associated with.

Under the alternative vote system, as voters you are asked to make an informed choice on the basis of what the candidates tells you about themselves.

You then elect a Member of Parliament as a human being, not a party hack. It is not difficult to grade candidates in order of preference based on the reasons they give to justify giving them your vote. AV restores the importance of the individual MP over the party machine.

Maurice Vassie, Deighton, York.