I think it would be hard to get the proxy concept into public elections, but maybe for party primaries. As a sort of "approval purist", I would lean toward making "No Proxy" the default, replacing the checkbox with one labeled, "Allow Proxy".
One way to judge the applicability of the proxy idea is to consider a Proxy/FPTP hybrid. If proxy voting adds anything to an approval election, then the benefit when added to a first-past-the-post election should be even greater, shouldn't it? Bart Forest Simmons wrote: > > What do you think of the Candidate Proxy / Approval hybrid that I > suggested a few months ago? > > Voters fill out regular approval style ballots. If a voter makes only one > mark on the ballot, then (by default) the marked candidate (as proxy for > the voter) may approve additional candidates on behalf of the voter in the > Election Completion Convention. > > If a voter wants to approve only one candidate without the proxy option, > then the voter must make another mark on the ballot on the "no proxy" > line. [Treating the "no proxy" line the same as a candidate line allows > the use of standard plurality ballots.] > > In summary, if a voter marks at least two lines on the ballot by approving > at least two candidates or by marking a candidate and the "no proxy" line, > then the approval ballot will be counted "as is" in the Election > Completion Convention, otherwise the lone mark candidate is proxy for the > voter. [If the lone mark is on the "no proxy" line, then no candidate is > approved by the ballot.] > > Even if I had rather strong feelings about whom to approve and whom to not > approve, if I trusted my favorite enough I might go ahead and designate > her as my proxy in order to give her more leverage in the Election > Completion Convention. > > Also if I didn't trust the polls, and the popularity of the candidates was > an important consideration in deciding the approval cutoff, I might want > to give proxy status to my favorite, since her final decisions would be > made after the "as is" approval ballots were tallied. > > It seems to me that the average voter would find this method to be simpler > to use than Approval, and that the method would preserve all of the > advantages that Approval has over other methods. ---- Election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
