Reply to Alan on Candidate List

[donald at mich.com]

Hi Alan,

You wrote:
Donald, would this concept not perpetuate the power of the party rather
than the power of the voter. Surely the candidate would have a greater
chance of election if he, in collusion with his buddies, formed a "party
list" albeit an unofficial and possibly secret one?

Alan, It would be expected that candidates from the same party would
include each other on their candidate lists. And it follows that the votes
that they draw in the election will support each other and the party in
general. But the voters have the power to influence the direction of their
party by selecting certain candidates to support. This is how the voters
can sort out the good in the party from the bad. On the other hand - a
party list is a package deal - we must take the bad with the good.

The official list of each candidate is used to reassign votes that may need
to be reassigned. An unofficial or secret list would not be used by the
election commission - would not be functional - would not receive any
reassigned votes - would not influence the outcome of the election.
Candidates would not have a greater chance of election by being on an
unofficial and/or secret list. The list would be a nonevent.

Sincerely yours,

Donald

The following insert comes from my text on The Candidate List Method:
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Candidate List Method for city council elections

     The duty of each voter is very simple in this method. They only need
to vote for the candidate of their choice. They should vote for the
candidate that they feel is best for the position even if that candidate is
low in the polls. If their candidate is dropped their vote is not dropped.
The vote is salvaged and reassigned to the next candidate on the list. The
election commission will take care of these details.
     In explaining this method I will use the example of a city with a ten
member council.  Each voter will have only one vote in this council
election.  We want to end up with ten final candidates that will have ten
percent or nearly ten percent of the votes each.  Any candidate that
receives ten percent or more of the votes on the first tally will be one of
the final elected candidates.  The balance of the ten to be elected will be
determined as votes are reassigned from excess votes and from the votes of
dropped candidates.
      The Candidate List Method works as follows:  Before the election each
candidate is required to submit a public statement to the election
commission designating how any possible excess votes are to be reassigned
to a list of other candidates.  The statement should identify the
candidates to receive excess votes and how the votes are to be distributed.
This statement is to be submitted before the election for two reasons:
One reason is that the voters have a right to know how a candidate has
decided to reassign any excess votes.  The second reason is so that the
election board, and everyone else, can proceed with reassigning all excess
votes as soon as the election is over.

An example is in: The Election Reform Gospel According to New Democracy
              At: http://www.mich.com/~donald
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