[EM] it's been pretty quiet around here...

[robert bristow-johnson]

... my goodness!  it's been at least 2 weeks with no activity.

just a little story: we are about to have our primary elections  
(August 24) here in Vermont.  it's also a very small state where any  
old Joe could waltz into the capitol in Montpelier, and make an  
appointment to see the guv.  anyway, recently when i bopped into the  
Vermont Dem HQ to pick up some signs, i happened to notice a candidate  
for Sec of State (who has responsibility to carry out elections for  
state offices and Vermont's contribution to the national offices).  in  
a recent debate, he was debating his opponent about election policy  
and IRV came up (both candidates were for IRV, as far as i could tell).

since he wasn't from Burlington, he was not as familiar with the  
Burlington debate as he could have been (he knew we had IRV and that  
it was repealed last March).  there have been a couple of bills to  
introduce IRV to statewide offices (notably guv) since the Progs have  
a statewide presence, not just Burlington.  he was thinking that the  
problem Burlington had with the election was in the *software* (as if  
the software "failed").  i told him that if that were the case, it  
would likely wind up in court, not just a repeal question on the  
ballot.  anyway, it was interesting educating this leading candidate  
for the primary official responsible for elections what *did* go wrong  
with IRV in Burlington in 2009 and also what the problems would be if  
it were adopted for a statewide election (namely that it's not  
precinct summable).

anyway, i like this candidate (better than the alternative), but it's  
just a shame that, in the popular mind, there is no differentiation  
between the concepts of Preferential Voting (the ranked-order ballot)  
and IRV.

Terry B, i still feel that we are for the same goals, but i also still  
feel that FairVote.org (*and* the opponents to IRV) did none of us a  
service in, essentially, equating the ranked ballot to the IRV method  
of tabulation when there are other, better, methods of tabulation.   
FairVote has to *really* (re)consider the product they are selling  
rather than just how to sell it.

well, lessee if this stirs anything up.

--

r b-j                  rbj at audioimagination.com

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."