STV in NSW

[Donald E Davison]

Dear Markus Schulze,

     Thank you for sending the information on the latest New South Wales
election.

     My initial interest in this election was because I am looking for a
large single area STV election. I wish to know the rate of exhausted votes.

     But, in the New South Wales elections, there are two features that
distort the exhausted votes.
     One is the voting above the line and the other is the requirement that
the voter that votes below the line must rank 15 candidates. I do not
believe that the average voter would know 15 candidates well enough to rank
them.

     The Droop Quota is another feature that would distort the results I am
looking for, but I can adjust for the Droop by substracting one quota from
the total exhausted and/or wasted ballots. Droop creates a quota of wasted
votes without any help from the voters. I want to know the exhausted votes
created by the voters.

     Anyway, I am still looking for a large STV election.
     If anyone on this EM list knows of a large STV election with optional
preferences and no voting for party, please tell me.

Thank You,
Donald