MAY 5 will not just be a chance to choose who governs Swindon.

Alongside the regular, yearly local election, in which one third of the town’s council seats are up for grabs, voters will also be voting on... er, how to vote.

The Alternative Voting referendum is taking place nationwide, and when residents go to the polls they will be given a ballot paper asking if they are in favour or against the new voting system.

Some have called AV too complicated, or outright unfair.

Others claim the new system will ensure that politicians can only govern if an outright majority of the electorate vote for them.

The debate has been raging for weeks, with top politicians trading criticisms and insults over AV. But few ordinary voters understand how it functions.

Tomorrow the Adver aims to change that, with a piece specially about the AV referendum.

Featured in it is a novel ballot taking place at Holy Rood school, where the children are going to be voting tomorrow on which sweeties should be handed out by teachers. Teachers will tot up which sweets have won using both the current first-past-the-post system, and the proposed AV system.

And whichever system wins the nationwide referendum will be the one which is used to determine the winner of the sweetie vote.