[EM] announcing software for computing STV

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

Dear List Members,

I've just released software from computing various forms of STV (SNTV, IRV,
Random Transfer, Fractional Transfer, and Meek).  You can download the source
and a windows executable at
    http://sourceforge.net/projects/stv

I am looking for feedback from people and also for people who would be willing
to help me develop it.  The program is written entirely in python.  wxPython is
used for the user interface and py2exe is used to create a standalone windows
executable.  It will also run on any platform with python and wxPython
installed.  Please be patient with the bugs and email me with feedback or post
it at the above web site.

There is another program called eSTV available at http://www.estv.co.uk/.  eSTV
is a great program, but I've decided to make another because eSTV
    o is not open source
    o requires a license if you have more than 60 voters
    o is limited to 1000 voters with a license
My program is open source and has no explicit limits.

Another reason is the choice of STV rules.  eSTV implements the ERS97 STV
rules.  While there are good reasons underlying these rules, I think simpler
rules are better for organizations just beginning to use STV.  The rules in my
program are based on
http://www.fairvote.org/library/statutes/choice_voting.htm, which is also in
the book "Behind the Ballot Box" by Douglas Amy.

best regards,
Jeff O'Neill


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