[EM] MultiGroup voting method

[Abd ul-Rahman Lomax]

At 06:46 AM 4/7/2007, James Gilmour wrote:
>Any form of "bullet vote" gives the parties de facto control.  Elections
>are for electors  -  or at least, they should be!

Well, if I understand Mr. Gilmour, in Asset, voters choose electors. 
Which may or may not represent parties, it's up to the voters. What 
Asset does is to make it possible for voters to move around the party 
system, but it does not require them to.

However, they may certainly bullet-vote. This has nothing to do with 
parties, in Asset, unless the bullet-vote is for a candidate who will 
toe the party line. Asset allows candidates to run who might have 
little or no chance of winning office, and allows voters to vote for 
them without thereby wasting their vote.

Allowing voters under Asset to vote for more than one, I consider 
desirable, but it will complicate the vote counting, though not 
greatly, particularly if the number you can vote for is limited.

To count Asset ballots and divide the votes, distribute the ballots 
into piles according to the number of votes on them. Then count the 
single-vote pile and accumulate the candidate votes from it. Then 
count the two-vote pile and accumulate the votes from it and divide 
them by two, adding the total to the first set. Etc.

Almost as fast as straight counting, but there is more work if many 
people vote for more than one, simply because more votes are cast 
that need to be counted.

If it is considered impractical to allow multiple votes in Asset, 
it's not essential. It could be one vote, period. It's not harmful, 
in my opinion. Just not quite as flexible.