[Election-Methods] Wikimedia adopts the Schulze method

[Markus Schulze]

Hallo,

in May 2008, the Wikimedia Foundation adopted
the Schulze method, a Condorcet method, for
the elections of its Board of Trustees:

http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-May/043134.html

In June 2008, Wikimedia used the Schulze method for
Wikimedia's very first time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2008-05-26/Board_elections
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2008
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2008/Results
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-June/044361.html

One vacant seat had to be filled. There were
15 candidates, about 26,000 eligible voters,
and 3,019 valid ballots.

Ting Chen was a clear Condorcet winner. However,
there was a tie for the sixth to the ninth position
between the candidates Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, Ryan
Postlethwaite, Ray Saintonge, and Steve Smith.

Heiskanen beat Postlethwaite with 841 against 770 votes.
Heiskanen beat Smith with 798 against 750 votes.
Postlethwaite beat Saintonge with 797 against 769 votes.
Postlethwaite beat Smith with 755 against 744 votes.
Saintonge beat Heiskanen with 745 against 737 votes.
Smith beat Saintonge with 778 against 738 votes.

The Schulze method resolved this tie as follows:

    sixth position: Heiskanen
    seventh position: Postlethwaite
    eighth position: Smith
    ninth position: Saintonge.

However, most other Condorcet methods would have
resolved this tie in the same manner.

To the best of my knowledge, these elections to
Wikimedia's Board of Trustees were the largest
Condorcet poll ever. (When the "Free State
Project" used a Condorcet method in 2003 to
choose its target state, there were only 5,170
eligible voters and 2,388 valid ballots.)

A very good website about the Schulze method with
many links is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schulze_method

A very good paper about the Schulze method with
many definitions, examples, and proofs is here:

http://m-schulze.webhop.net/schulze1.pdf

Markus Schulze