A Lancashire Telegraph snapshot survey carried out yesterday showed a clear majority against the Alternative Vote.

The survey of 100 people in Blackburn and Burnley comes in the week a referendum will be held on the subject.

57 people said they would vote to keep the current first-past-the-post system, with 27 saying they were in favour of the change to AV.

Another 16 were still undecided.

Meanwhile 41 people said they were baffled by the alternative vote (AV).

Our survey found a wipespread lack of enthusiasm over the referendum tomorrow.

Younger people tended to be more in favour of the change, with older generations happier to stick with the current system.

The country goes to the polls tomorrow for local elections.

But voters will also be asked whether they want to change the current voting system from the first-past-the-post system to AV.

East Lancashire coalition MPs are split down party lines on whether the country’s voting system for general elections should be changed.

Gordon Birtwistle, Burnley’s Liberal Democrat MP is for the move.

Pendle Con-servative MP Andrew Stephenson is firmly in the ‘no’ camp, along with Ribble Valley Conservative MP Nigel Evans and Darwen and Rossendale’s Conserva tive MP Jake Berry.

Hyndburn Labour MP Graham Jones opposes AV, but Blackburn Labour MP Jack Straw is for AV.

What voters said

Dave Gillett, 32, of Duke Bar, Burnley, said: “I’m perfectly happy with the way it is. You feel that your vote counts more.

"I don’t agree with AV because it could see one of the minority parties getting votes.”

Danielle Gillett, 25, of Duke Bar, Burnley, said: “The fact is we can’t afford to be spending the money on a new system when the one we’ve got works okay.

"There’s only one other country I can think of using this system.”

Diane Weyer, 49, Rosehill, Burnley: “I think that we should stick with the system we’ve used all these years.

"They’re all the same now anyway. At one time you could tell them apart but you can’t now.”

Patricia Rowe, 67, of Darwen, will be voting no to AV: “I don’t think AV is easy to understand at all. It is also going to be expensive.

"What we have got is very simple and it could easily become very complicated.”

Anthony-Thomas Ainsworth, 63, of Bolton Road, Blackburn, is unsure how he will be voting.

“It will be really hard to understand. I have not read the leaflet properly yet but I am sure it will stump a lot of people.”

Teenager Porchia Tracey, of New Wellington Street, Mill Hill, Blackburn, will not be voting at all.

“It is hard to understand and I will not be voting anyway," she said.

"I think most people my age feel the same.”