[EM] PR in student government...

[Jonathan Lundell]

On Apr 16, 2007, at 9:56 AM, Bob Richard wrote:

> The (alleged) complexity of STV is entirely a matter of the counting
> process; the task for the voter is actually very simple.  Having said
> that, the conventional ways of explaining the count invariably lose
> audiences, and we need to learn how to present it better.

Yes, yes, yes, to all of that.

I'll add (from experience with internal Green Party elections) that a  
big piece of the complexity argument is lack of familiarity. As we've  
increasingly used STV, I find that voters become familiar--and  
comfortable--with the concept, even though few of them could explain  
the counting mechanism.

A caution, though: when adopting STV, it's important to fully specify  
the method. Our biggest confusions have been over ambiguities in our  
rules, which can lead to conflicting results.