[EM] Extremely simple voting for committee

[James Gilmour]

Gervase wrote:
> As a result of the phasing in of legislation, the 
> small-to-medium sized 
> company I work for needs to show that the committee that 
> represents the 
> employees has been ratified by the employees.  The committee, which 
> already exists, is and must be made up of 1 high ranked manager and 8 
> others (which I assume means less senior than the manager, I THINK).

This is not an election; as you say, it is a "ratification".  It seems to me to be a simple "Yes" /
"No" ballot.  "I accept the Committee as it stands" or "I do not accept the Committee as it stands".
(What happens if the majority of those who vote do not ratify the committee might be very
interesting!)

The committee appears to represent two separate constituencies: "high ranked managers" with one seat
and "others" with eight seats.  IF this committee is intended to be representative of its two
constituencies it would be customary to hold elections within the two constituencies.  The "high
ranked manager" constituency elects a single seat, so you could use Condorcet (or IRV).  The
"others" constituency elects eight members, so STV-PR (Choice Voting) would be the most appropriate
system to use.  STV-PR and IRV are used by millions of voters in the UK to elect work-place
representatives of many kinds.
James