[EM] Election methods in student government...

[raphfrk at netscape.net]

 > That said, I really don't like the process of asset voting - which seems 
 > like a separate idea than proxies. This is because it takes control away 
 > from the voter in much the same way party lists do except that each 
 > candidate is effectively a "party". It sounds like an interesting system, 
 > but one that would only be useful in special cases. 
 
 It doesn't really take that away.
 
 You are assuming that each voter picks a candidate who has a chance of 
 winning. In an asset voting election, there will (should) be candidates
 who intend to negotiate on your behalf and are unlikely to actually
 get elected.
 
 For example, you vote for someone you trust and he gets say 50 votes. 
 However, a seat requires 500 votes. The proxy/candidate you voted for 
 goes to the meeting and finds a candidate who you will like and gives him
 the 50 votes in exchange for the candidate trying to get something
 done that you want. (or maybe he convinces enough others that he would
 be a good candidate)
 
 One issue with asset voting is that there is no recall option, which means
 it can run into the party list problem where votes seem to be dropped in a 
 bottomless pit. Asset gets even closer to proxy if the votes are redistributed 
 every say 3 months even if the election timescale is much longer.
 
 So the procedure would be:
 
 Election is held, say once a year to allocate votes to proxies
 
 Every month a meeting is held and the proxies can allocate their 
 votes to anyone they want (the votes of a proxy who is not present
 remain with the candidate he allocated them to in the previous 
 meeting, if any). There is a set number of votes required for a 
 candidate to get a seat.
 
 The winners at the meeting become the peer assembly.
 
 This means that your friend with 50 votes can withdraw them
 from the person he allocated them to at the subsequent meeting
 if that person lied about what he was planning to do.
 
 It formalises a 2 stage proxy system. Each student talks to the 
 person (proxy) they voted for and that person talks to all the 
 candidates and finds one that is a good use for the vote.
 
 It also gets the stability/simplicity of a peer assembly for actual debates.
    Raphfrk
 --------------------
 Interesting site
 "what if anyone could modify the laws"
 
 www.wikocracy.com    
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