[EM] PR in student government...

[Bob Richard]

Tim asked:

> How would MMP be done, anyway - especially
> with uneven constituencies?

MMP (at least in the form that I know it) would require single-member
consitutuencies, which rules it in many university settings.  I
mentioned it previously only because it is the most widely suggested
alternative to STV, at least for public elections.

Bob Richard
Publications Director
Californians for Electoral Reform
http://www.cfer.org
P.O. Box 235
Kentfield, CA 94914-0235
(415) 256-9393


-----Original Message-----
From: election-methods-bounces at electorama.com
[mailto:election-methods-bounces at electorama.com]On Behalf Of Tim Hull
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 10:49 AM
To: election-methods at electorama.com
Subject: Re: [EM] PR in student government...


It's not a strict Borda count (ranking all candidates) per se - it's a
point system where your first place vote is worth n votes, second n-1,
and so on, n being the number of open seats.  What is being elected are
representative seats for student government divided proportionally by
school/college.    and divided between two yearly elections (fall and
spring) .  The college of Literature, Science, and Arts (LSA) is the
largest, receiving 19 seats (9 in one election, 10 in another).  Other
schools have anywhere from 7 seats (4 in one election, 3 in the other)
to 1 seat (assigned to one election or the other). Overall, most of the
seats (and the ones that really matter) are elected in the multi-seat
constituencies.

Approval and range wouldn't work any better than our existing system, as
they aren't proportional (i.e. one slate can sweep seats easily).  It
does seem like STV is best - however, it does seem harder to explain
than the existing system.  How would MMP be done, anyway - especially
with uneven constituencies?

Tim