On Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 11:48 PM, Dave Ketchum <da...@clarityconnect.com> wrote: > Eventually you get down to successfully running an election. Among your > choices: > Leave a slot in the ballot by each candidate for voter to write in the > rank number. Allows for lots of ranks, but a challenge to decipher what > the voters write. > Provide a check off slot by each candidate for each possible rank. Three > slots will satisfy most voters for most IRV races, provided they recognize > needs vs abilities. > Of course, to elect a slate needs more ability.
In Ireland, there is a box by each candidate and you write in the rank you want to give that candidate. I would agree, in most cases, 3 ranks should be sufficient, as long as voters are away that their last rank must go to one of the top-2 (unless they have already voted for one of them). The London Mayoral election is pretty bad. It is instant top-2 runoff, but it only provides 2 ranks. If neither you first or second choice make it to round 2, you don't get to vote in the 2nd round. > Depends mostly what you want to accomplish as a voter: > Get in on top-2 - then rank your preference between these. > Get in on others such as your own preference - rank per your desire in > available ranking. Assuming you vote for one of the top 2, the remaining ballots are purely for information purposes. They show the candidates where their support is coming from. > Proving difficulty is tricky because it depends on understanding the > problem. What I see below sounds like simplifying the problem to make it > solvable. The simplification due to random ballots certainly makes the hand count easier. However, it isn't required. You can just assign a weight to each pile. This sub-pile is kept separate from the rest of the ballots for that candidate. The weight for that sub-pile could be written on a page/sign beside the pile. This weight gets updated for any surplus transfer. So, it would be something like Initialisation: 1) sort all the ballots into piles based on first choice 2) Place a sign with a 1 on it beside each pile 3) Count all the piles 4) work out quota Processing (once per round) If any candidate has more than the quota in his pile -- declare that candidate elected. -- multiply the weighting for each of the candidate's piles by (surplus/candidate's vote) -- update all the signs -- Split the piles based on the next highest ranking and copy the sign for all the sub-piles -- assign those sub-piles to the other candidates Otherwise -- declare lowest candidate eliminated -- redistribute all the votes in his pile It can also be less efficiently accomplished by having 1 sign per ballot. > Seems like I just read of collecting all the ballots for a race at a central > counting site. For PR-STV, it would be very helpful to have all the ballots in one place, but not essential. You could have the central office issue instructions. ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info