# FILE NAME: 00001342.soc
# TITLE: Should prisoners be allowed to vote? [846d9db9a40fe1d2093b5f2974c8d70e]
# DESCRIPTION: 
# DATA TYPE: soc
# MODIFICATION TYPE: original
# RELATES TO: 
# RELATED FILES: 
# PUBLICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# MODIFICATION DATE: 2025-10-12
# NUMBER ALTERNATIVES: 4
# NUMBER VOTERS: 5
# NUMBER UNIQUE ORDERS: 4
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 1: Statement 1 - “After careful consideration, we have decided that prisoners should not be allowed to vote in U.K elections. We have several reasons for our opinion. Firstly, we believe that if a person is in prison for breaking the law, they have demonstrated that they do not follow the rules and thus should not have the right to vote. Secondly, public opinion is very much opposed to allowing prisoners the vote, with a recent survey by the Daily Mail indicating that only 7% of people believe that prisoners should be allowed to vote. Thirdly, if prisoners were allowed to vote, politicians would campaign to them and may make policies which appeal to prisoners in order to gain their votes. Lastly, we believe that prisoners should lose some of their civil rights and should not be allowed to vote. The right to vote is a privilege and not a right. It is something that we believe should only belong to law-abiding citizens.”
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 2: Statement 2 - “We have debated the issue of prisoner’s voting rights at length and believe that, on balance, prisoners should not be allowed to vote in U.K elections. There are several arguments for our stance. Firstly, we believe that if a person is in prison for breaking the law, they have demonstrated that they do not follow the rules and thus should not have the right to vote. Secondly, public opinion is very much opposed to allowing prisoners the vote, with a recent survey by the Daily Mail indicating that only 7% of people believe that prisoners should be allowed to vote. Thirdly, if prisoners were allowed to vote, politicians would campaign to them and may make policies which appeal to prisoners in order to gain their votes. Lastly, we believe that prisoners should lose some of their civil rights and should not be allowed to vote. The right to vote is a privilege and not a right. It is something that we believe should only belong to law-abiding citizens.” The most clear and immediate change is that the word ‘vote’ has been replaced with ‘voting rights’ as it was decided that ‘vote’ was a too informal term and left the statement open to misinterpretation. The statement was also
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 3: Statement 3 - “The issue of prisoner’s voting rights has been debated by our group at length. On balance, we believe that prisoners should not be allowed to vote in the U.K. There are several arguments for our stance. Firstly, we believe that if a person is in prison for breaking the law, they have demonstrated that they do not follow the rules and thus should not have the right to vote. Secondly, public opinion is very much opposed to allowing prisoners the vote, with a recent survey by the Daily Mail indicating that only 7% of people believe that prisoners should be allowed to vote. Thirdly, if prisoners were allowed to vote, politicians would campaign to them and may make policies which appeal to prisoners in order to gain their votes. Lastly, we believe that prisoners should lose some of their civil rights and should not be allowed to vote. The right to vote is a privilege and not a right. It is something that we believe should only belong to law-abiding citizens.”
# ALTERNATIVE NAME 4: Statement 4 - “We have debated the issue of prisoners’ voting rights at length and have concluded that, on balance, prisoners should not be allowed to vote in U.K elections. There are several arguments for our stance. Firstly, we believe that if a person is in prison for breaking the law, they have demonstrated that they do not follow the rules and thus should not have the right to vote. Secondly, public opinion is very much opposed to allowing prisoners the vote, with a recent survey by the Daily Mail indicating that only 7% of people believe that prisoners should be allowed to vote. Thirdly, if prisoners were allowed to vote, politicians would campaign to them and may make policies which appeal to prisoners in order to gain their votes. Lastly, we believe that prisoners should lose some of their civil rights and should not be allowed to vote. The right to vote is a privilege and not a right. It is something that we believe should only belong to law-abiding citizens.”
2: 2,1,3,4
1: 3,1,4,2
1: 2,3,4,1
1: 1,4,3,2