I'll try to find a balance. I too recognize the importance of starting
by educating voters through non-governmental elections -- so that later
it will be much easier to get fairer election methods adopted in
governmental elections. Yet I was wondering if maybe this explanation
about Roberts Rules of Order was too long, and based on the feedback
I'll try to shorten it. Also I think I can merge it with another
request to cover multiple rounds of voting, which is not yet covered --
and which also is important.
The other two paragraphs I expect to keep in the next draft -- at the
end as a part of the summary -- but they can be removed if they prove to
be disliked.
I'll start working on the next draft. It will be longer than the first
because of all the additions that were requested, but fortunately I
expect to be able to shorten it in a few places.
Richard Fobes
On 8/28/2011 2:13 PM, Ralph Suter wrote:
Even if improving public elections is the statement's primary aim, that
needn't be its only aim -- nor, I'm convinced, should it be.
One point I've tried to make is that one of the best practical means for
improving the prospects for reforming difficult-to-change public
elections would be to promote the use of alternative voting and
representation methods for use in non-public elections and other kinds
of decisionmaking processes (both public and non-public), including not
only formal ones such as organizational and formal meeting elections and
decisions but also informal ones that involve small and temporary groups
-- and for not only critically important decisions such as presidential
elections and constitutional referendums but also much less important
decisions such as groups of friends and co-workers deciding where to eat
lunch together. (For the latter, I believe approval voting and other
quick and simple methods are, in virtually all cases, indisputably
better than more complicated and time-consuming though maybe technically
superior ones.)
The important things to keep in mind regarding this point are, first,
that it is much easier to experiment with alternative voting and
representation methods in other than public elections and, second, that
doing so has the great added advantage of helping educate people about
alternative methods and (hopefully) helping persuade much larger numbers
of people that some alternative methods would be great improvements over
plurality voting and single-representative legislative districts for use
in public elections.
-RS
On 8/28/2011 12:45 PM, Dave Ketchum wrote:
I question adding this collection of paragraphs to the major
declaration, which seems more aimed at improving public elections.
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