It is not boring to rant about PR voting. First-Past-The-Posters (FPTPs) may deploy this as an argument, as well as saying that it produces weak government, is unsuited to a two-party system, seldom produces a single party majority and gives you halitosis (not really).
Right-wing FPTPs say that there would never be a Conservative majority government again because of left wing alliances against them. I don’t get out enough to meet left-wing FPTPs but I feel as if I am talking to Flat Earthers.
First, we are seeing lower and lower turnouts at elections. Hardly surprising that you don’t vote if you are in a safe seat. There’s no need to vote for your preferred party and it’s a waste of time to vote for any other, so your time is better spent at home making jam. While giving it a stir you can brood bitterly on what choice a so-called democracy has given you. Your governments are chosen by a small number of voters in a small number of marginal seats.
Second you can mutter about the vile party list system that is trotted out and labelled PR. It’s like labelling raspberry jam “Marmalade”. Party lists are where there is a separate list of candidates from each party. They are listed in order and this ranking has been decided by the relevant party. The party gets the number of candidates elected that corresponds to their national percentage of votes. This suits the politicians but is so completely unfair that you may give up jam making and take up bomb making.
An example from the Scottish Parliament: Conservative Jamie stands in the Highlands and Islands. The seat is contested by the SNP, Labour and Conservatives. The SNP narrowly win with about 18,000 votes (this was some years ago) and Jamie gets less than 1,000 votes. Because 5% of the voters in Scotland voted Conservative and Jamie is top of the Conservative list he and the SNP candidate are elected. So how do you feel about that? The man to whom you have given the bum’s rush beats the Labour candidate who got almost 18,000 votes.
A friend once said that he would vote for a chimpanzee, so long as it was wearing a blue rosette. In an optimal PR system (no party lists) you can vote for the chimp standing for your party and even a second chimp (they can have a tea party). Or maybe you’d rather deploy your second vote to a candidate for another party who you admire and think would make a good contribution in the constituency and in parliament.
Some form of PR is used in elections for the European Parliament (party lists, natch.), the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and in Northern Ireland at General Elections. It is also used to elect district councillors, the mayor of London, Police and Crime Commissioners and many more bodies I’m sure. The Lib Dems did their best to extend this to General Elections on the mainland but the self-interest of the two big parties overcame common sense. In the referendum the form of PR on offer was highly unsatisfactory but nevertheless I voted for it to show how I feel about FPTP.
PR gives voters genuine choices and treats voters as grown-ups. It does not foist party hacks who have never had a job outside politics on the electorate. There are some honourable exceptions. For example Conservative MPs Tom Tugendhat and Rory Stewart have each had more jobs than there are strawberries in your jam.