STV for party candidate lists?

[Markus Schulze]

Dear Herman,

you wrote (27 Jul 1998):
> Is that what normally happens, that about half of the candidates
> does not reach quota? I wouldn't have known there were so many!
> But sometimes the quota (the number of votes in the numerator)
> is adapted when ballots get exhausted, isn't it? Otherwise of
> course, it must be done in the way you propose.

In the 1925 election to the Irish Seanad, 76 candidates ran for
19 seats. More than half of the elected candidates were elected
without reaching the Droop Quota.

If there are only 9 seats, then usually 8 candidates are elected
with a full Droop Quota and one candidate is elected with
80%-100% of a Droop Quota.

But -due to George Hallett- in the 1949 Worcester City Council
election, where 153 candidates ran for 9 seats, many votes were
exhausted although they had many marked candidates.

My own opinion: At least if the number of seats is larger than 9,
a variable Quota should be used, because otherwise the election
result won't be very proportional.

Markus Schulze