[EM] STV/Asset Voting

[Abd ul-Rahman Lomax]

At 11:08 AM 11/14/2006, Bob Richard wrote:
>Does each candidate have to make the reassignment (1) before the votes
>are cast (so reassignments are announced to the voters); (2) after the
>votes are cast but before counting begins; or (3) after each round of
>counting?

When one is considering a new method, there are many implementation 
details which might need to be decided. There are many possible ways 
to answer these questions. I'll just pick my own answers out of the 
hat I'm wearing.

The reassignments are at the full discretion of the candidate, no 
consultation is required.

The votes reverting back to that candidate are the ones that were not 
used to elect anyone. This does require a definition of this.

The votes revert to the candidate when the "round of counting" 
process completes. Exactly how this happens depends on the method's 
procedures. I'd assume that many voters would simply choose one 
candidate and would not use the further ranks.

This process would allow almost completely fine-grained proportional 
representation. The votes would be used to create new winners, 
filling out the assembly, through deliberative process -- perhaps 
facilitated by delegable proxy -- among the candidates still holding votes.

If we are going to entrust the functions of an office to a winner, 
why not trust part of the process of selecting winners to our 
preferred candidate?