[EM] 12/22/02 - Markus Schulze Wrote and Wrote again:

[Markus Schulze]

Dear Adam,

you asked James Gilmour (24 Dec 2002):
> Please elaborate - don't you see it as a problem that the vast
> majority of Australian voters essentially vote in a closed party
> list style? What would you change to solve this problem?

In Australia, the voter has either to cast an X-vote for one and
only one party or to rank all candidates. I suggest that a voter
should be able to rank parties and candidates and that the used
STV method should be able to handle equal rankings.

******

Example: Suppose that there are 3 parties with 5 candidates each.
Suppose that a given voter votes as follows.

 Party A (5)
 Candidate A1 ()
 Candidate A2 (7)
 Candidate A3 ()
 Candidate A4 (4)
 Candidate A5 ()
 Party B (7)
 Candidate B1 (8)
 Candidate B2 (2)
 Candidate B3 (1)
 Candidate B4 ()
 Candidate B5 ()
 Party C ()
 Candidate C1 (3)
 Candidate C2 ()
 Candidate C3 (3)
 Candidate C4 ()
 Candidate C5 (6)

Then this should be interpreted as follows:

 Candidate A1 (5)
 Candidate A2 (7)
 Candidate A3 (5)
 Candidate A4 (4)
 Candidate A5 (5)
 Candidate B1 (8)
 Candidate B2 (2)
 Candidate B3 (1)
 Candidate B4 (7)
 Candidate B5 (7)
 Candidate C1 (3)
 Candidate C2 (9)
 Candidate C3 (3)
 Candidate C4 (9)
 Candidate C5 (6)

******

By the way: Party boxes are not a requirement for large districts.
The Cork City Council was elected in a single 21-seat district --
without party boxes. And in 1925, the Irish Senate was elected
in a single 19-seat district -- again without party boxes.

Markus Schulze

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