[EM] Australian voting process

[Dr. Ernie Prabhakar]

> Any thoughts about this article or, more generally, Australia's
> voting system? An interesting difference between it and the
> IRV method that has gained wide support in the U.S. is that
> voters have the option of voting for a single party and letting
> that party allocate their preferences. This was in the L.A.
> Times.

Interesting.   I like the fact that the article played up the voter 
interface (ranked-choice or preference voting) rather than focusing on 
the counting method.  I suspect someone else knows the technical 
details.

For PR elections, I personally think that a variant of STV which allows 
a candidate/party to delegate a 'bullet vote' to someone else might be 
useful.   I don't see much value for that in a Condorcet-style 
single-winner election, though (but I haven't thought much about it, so 
I could well be wrong).

I may link to this from my reform proposal, thanks.

-- Ernie P.


On Oct 8, 2004, at 6:22 AM, RLSuter at aol.com wrote:

> One effect of the preferential ballot is a flourishing
> multiparty system that has resulted in the election of
> minor party candidates to Parliament and prompts the
> major parties to reach out to smaller voting blocs in their
> quest for second-place votes.
>
> Under the preferential selection rules, voters also have
> the option of voting for a single party and letting that party
> allocate  their preferences. The Green Party has pledged
> its preferences to the Labor Party.