[EM] PR in student government...

[Tim Hull]

Hi,

I e-mailed this list a while back about election methods in student
government.  I'm at the University of Michigan, and we use a variant of the
Borda count for our elections where you get as many votes as open seats.
Slates of candidates typically contest elections as "parties", and most
discussion of elections revolves around these parties.

Anyway, the system as-is works better than at-large plurality, but it still
leaves much to be desired.  The biggest problem with the current system is
that the largest party slate always wins a disproportionately high number of
seats - so large, in fact, that competition has generally withered away.

As a result, I'm looking at proportional representation systems - and
possibly introducing one as a ballot initiative for next year. However, I
have experienced great trouble in finding a system that people like.  Single
Transferable Vote seems ideal, but it has the drawback of being complex
(and, as a result, hard for people to comprehend).  Party lists are simpler,
but they force voters to support an entire party - not ideal at all.

Does anyone have any suggestions?  I was actually recently elected to a
representative seat as the only independent candidate to defeat the dominant
party slate, and am planning to introduce something.  I just need to be able
to convince others...

Tim Hull
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