[EM] Student government - what voting system to recommend?

[Howard Swerdfeger]

Tim Hull wrote:
> MMP still enforces proportionality based on parties - as opposed to STV's
> non-party based method.
> That is somewhat undesirable, and does make the legislature more party
> rather than individual-based.
> Also, it creates situations such as the rule I heard they use in New 
> Zealand
> whereby if you switch parties, you
> have to resign Parliament (after all, your seat is tied to your party).  
> For

I believe NZ has a closed list. I suggested a method of MMP that has no 
list.

The list along with a other things (funding rules, party nominations, 
etc) represents a large amount of control the party has over the MP. I 
believe it is entirely possible to design a democracy based on MMP. 
Where the voters choice is almost completely candidate driven, and the 
control that a party has over the MP's is very small.

That being said the devil is in the details. STV does have this 
candidate centric view built into it by default, as such it is less 
vulnerable to attack in the design portion of the decision.

> that reason, it seems like
> STV is ideal for PR - it gives us the benefits of PR without eliminating
> district representation or enforcing party lines
> and party discipline.

For your situation I would probably agree. STV is probably your best 
choice.
One suggestion I have is in your design phase:
  * Don't do your design in isolation. send out feelers to well 
connected trusted people in the debate and vote portion.
  * Accept input from them and be willing to change away from what you 
see as the best system if it gives you a better chance of being 
accepted. (Obviously: if you also feel changes are still better then the 
current system)



> Regarding IRV, I do know it isn't ideal.  In fact, if someone can show me
> it's necessarily worse than plurality, I'd just stick
> with plurality in single-winner and use STV in multi-winner.  

This is not possible as it is not true (I don't think).
As shown in the link...
Under some situation Plurality is better then IRV, under others IRV is 
better.
This whole argument of course all takes place in a magic box where where 
we  know how the voters will vote and why they vote that way.
...etc...

However, I'm
> hesitant to throw two new systems at a student government
> relucant to even consider one - and I think many are in the same boat...
> The idea of Condorcet with a threshold is interesting, though...
> 
> On this topic, does anyone know of a modified,
> kind-of-Condorcet-but-not-quite method which preserves later-no-harm?  This
> may be interesting as a starting point...


No clue. I gave a quick answer to the question.
but your correct is an interesting problem.


P.S.
Have you Thought about ballot design at all..?
for STV I would recommend

a modification of the Irish Style ballot

* List Candidates in Random Order but group them by party
	- each individual ballot has a different order
	- randomize which party comes first on the ballot also
	- randomize which candidate comes first in the party

I believe they also list the Postal Code and occupation of each 
candidate in addition to name and party.
I believe you said the seats are allocated by Faculty.

So I would suggest Listing :
  * Name
  * party
  * department (phy, Bio, Chem) within the faculty (Science)
  * residence (Building X or Floor Y, Off campus, etc...)
  * year (Senior, freshmen ....etc...)
Next to each candidate.

So that a typical student who identifies with his department, residence, 
or year. Might have some basis for determining between his 22nd and 23rd 
choices. As he probably didn't think that far ahead before going into 
the booth.

You might also consider listing any other information the voters might 
be compelled to identify with.
Optionally Give the Candidate 1 line (70ish characters) to write 
anything he wants under his name

I would also say Optional ballot completion would be important.





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Howard Swerdfeger

howard at swerdfeger.com
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